The Legned of Spyro: Soul Calibur
by Solaro the watcher
Summary: 3 years after DotD, Spyro finds a strange metal shard outside Warfang. Sencing an evil aura eminating from it, he & Cynder embark on a journey to find the other shards. Little do they know that an all-too-familiar dragon is doing the same...
1. Prologue: The Soul Swords

Prologue: The Soul Swords

Chosen by history, a man becomes a warrior. Engraved into history, a warrior becomes a hero. In the world, there are countless legends surrounding the swords known as the soul swords. Some claim them to be the ultimate weapons. Others refer to them as the swords of heroes; phantom swords of immeasurable power; the keys to eternal youth; a treasure without equal; the panacea to cure all illnesses.

One of the soul swords, namely, Soul Edge, though various folklore of the sword spread across the world, was unmistakably evil. It was a demonic sword that fed on mortal souls. The blade, born from human hands, came to life and began devouring souls after bathing in human blood countless times. But, like all great power, where there's darkness, there's a counteracting light, namely the spirit sword, Soul Calibur.

The two swords clashed many times throughout the centuries, but this strife was never etched into history, for no one knew…

Until, in a year still unknown today, the two swords clashed once more. Soul Edge, wielded by the fallen knight, Nightmare, and Soul Calibur, wielded by an unknown warrior of the Light, had a final battle in the Ostrheinsburg Church in the soul swords' homeland. Nightmare was defeated, and Soul Edge destroyed. Though the warrior of light had intended to vanquish the demon sword altogether, Soul Edge had a plan of its own…

Instead of just waiting to be destroyed, the demon sword concentrated its strength so that it would simply shatter. The fragments were scattered throughout the world…and others.

Transcending history and the world, a tale of souls and swords, eternally retold…

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><p><strong>For those of you who have played Soul Calibur, this is just a recap, though it will prove to be important in the next chapter or two.<br>****All in all, not a bad summary of the Soul Edge/Soul Calibur conflict, don't you think? I appreciate review, praises and critisism alike.  
><strong>**The story may contain OC's, it may not, but i do not own anything from Spyro or Soul Calibur. Whenever i DO introduce an OC, i'll let you know at the beginning of each chapter.**

**See ya when i get the next chapter in!**


	2. Chapter 1: Dark Discovery

**Hi, sorry for the delay. My computer was having problems, but it's fixed now. Hope you enjoy the new chapter.**

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><p>Chapter 1: Dark Discovery<p>

In another world, known as the Dragon Realms, the sun shining brightly in the midday sky, bathing the vast plains outside the dragon city with light, four young dragons were on their usual walk outside on the fields. One, Flame, was red with a yellow underbelly, horns, and arrowhead tail spade, with fiery red eyes. Beside him was Ember, a pink dragoness slightly younger than Flame, with sapphire blue eyes and a tail spade shaped like an upside-down heart. Around her neck was a gold necklace inlaid with a ruby almost the same hew of red as Flame's scales. Across from them was Cynder, a black dragoness a year older then Flame, with a slender build, crimson red belly scales, grey-white markings on her forehead and hips, scythe-like rail blade, wearing silver anklets on all four legs and a matching collar.

Beside her was Spyro, the legendary Purple Dragon capable of wielding all of the elements. Beside his purple scales, he had a gold underbelly, gold horns, gold spikes, a gold leaf-shaped tail spade, and purple-ish blue eyes.

"So, Spyro," Flame said. "When are we gonna have our rematch?"

Spyro rolled his eyes. "You always pick the worst times to challenge me, Flame. Can't you wait a little longer?"

"I've been waiting all week!"

_Persistent, isn't he, _Spyro thought. Ever since he and Cynder saved the world from Malefor, the Dark Master, and brought the scattered dragon population back to Warfang, he and Flame had been at a constant rivalry. Flame had been challenging him at every opportunity; between the hours they spent repairing the city after the last major siege, before and after lunch, even before going back to the dorms of the school, which would reopen within the month. By Spyro's count, they had fought roughly 253 times in the last year, and Spyro had won all 253 times, though most of them were pretty close matches. He'd promised Flame yet _another _rematch last week, just after he'd beaten him again. Not wanting to fight again so early, he'd intentionally made himself busier, helping the moles with the work on the city even more than usual.

And now, Flame's patience was reaching its breaking point.

Ember sighed. "Can't you forget about it for another hour or two more, you big lug, when we get back to the city?" she asked.

Flame sighed. He obviously wanted to argue, but when Ember wanted something, she wouldn't stop until she got it. They'd been going out for the last two-and-a-half years, and if that wasn't enough to get to know someone well, then Spyro didn't know what was. He and Cynder had been dating for around the same amount of time as well.

Finally, Flame conceded. "But, I won't have you backing out of this, Spyro," he added. "You wouldn't want rumor going about the school that you backed down from a challenge, once the school opens, would ya? _You_, of all dragons in the world-OUCH!"

Everyone was surprised by the sudden yelp, and turned to Flame. He had jumped back almost three feet, clutching his paw, which had something silver imbedded in it. Flame pulled the object out and threw it away, his paw now bleeding openly.

Ember strode up to him and gently took his paw, wincing as she examined the wound. "We need to take care of that now, so it doesn't get infected. Just gimme a sec."

She put both her front paws around Flame's injured paw, Flame wincing slightly at the contact. She closed her eyes and muttered a few words under her breath. After opening her eyes again, they and her necklace were glowing slightly, and after a few seconds Flame's face softened.

Ember removed her paws and again stood on all fours. "There."

"Thanks, Ember," Flame said.

Ember's necklace was imbued with a spell put on it by her great-grandmother, giving the wearer the ability to heal certain wounds. When Ember was 9, she received it from her mother, Rose, who was the healer of her old village. She died the next day. Since then, Ember had devoted her life to becoming just as good a healer as her mother. She was 17 now, and had proven to be an even better healer than her mother, although she still prefers to avoid life-threatening injuries, the sight sets her stomach loose.

"Now, what did you step on, Flame?" Spyro asked.

"I don't know," he said. "…some kind of metal shard or something."

Spyro looked around. After a few minutes, he found a metal shard in the grass, the sunlight reflecting off it, and red with blood. Spyro picked it up, and showed it to the others.

It certainly had a silver luster, but Spyro noticed that Flame's blood wasn't the only thing making it look red. It periodically pulsed between red and silver and back. Just looking at it gave Spyro a feeling of unease. It just looked evil.

Cynder was thinking the same thing, and shifted uncomfortably. "What do you think it is?"

"It's a metal shard, what else?" Flame said, stating the obvious.

Cynder scowled. "I mean, what is it a shard _of?_"

"No clue…"

Just then, Spyro felt a strange sensation in his mind, like something trying to drive itself into his brain. Remembering his training, he instantly threw up his mental barriers, concentrating on an image of Cynder. Whatever was trying to get into his mind, it wasn't strong enough to get past his defenses, though it was still a strong force.

Cynder felt his mind close itself from her, and turned her head toward him. "What is it, Spyro?"

He didn't respond. He was too busy concentrating on keeping whatever was trying to get into his mind out. After a few seconds, the force ceased, and he relaxed.

"Spyro, what's wrong?" Cynder asked again.

He shook his head. "I don't know… I felt something prodding against my mind, something I didn't recognize…"

He stared at the shard, thinking. He was starting to think that this piece of metal was more than it appeared to be. When he mentioned this to the others, they stared apprehensively at the shard.

"Maybe we should ask the Guardians," Cynder suggested. "They might know what this thing is." At this, they agreed, and they spread their wings and took flight, headed back to the Dragon City, Spyro clutching the mysterious shard in his paw…

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><p>They arrived at Warfang half an hour later, the sun still high in the air, reflecting off the stained-glass windows of the Atrium, situated at the very center of the city. That was where the political leaders of the dragon race, namely the Counsel of Avalar, as well as the other races that resided in the Dragon Realms, would sit and discuss problems that would occasionally arise in the world. However, because of the recent war with the Dark Master, the Counsel had been disbanded to deal with the fighting, and hasn't been reformed since. So the Atrium is currently used as a vast dormitory for visitors and those who they don't have room for in the surrounding buildings.<p>

Spyro, Cynder, Flame, and Ember flew over the eastern courtyard, used as the training and sparring grounds for the dragons. Spyro glanced down, smiling as he noticed the many scorch marks left behind from his constant battles with Flame. Soon, they would have yet another fight, and Spyro wondered what kind of damage they would do to the courtyard _this_ time?

They landed just outside the Atrium, which is where the guardian dragons could normally be found. In the absence of the Counsel, and without a war to deal with, they acted as the political representatives of the dragons. If they weren't busy at the moment, the young ones could get to the bottom of the mystery of the shard soon.

As they opened the large oak doors, voices of argument reached their ears instantly, voices they recognized as the Electricity and Ice guardians, Volteer and Cyril, berating back and forth about Ancestors know what.

After a few minutes, the Earth Guardian, Terrador, had finally had enough, and stepped in. "Enough!" he half shouted. The two fell silent instantly, though Volteer's mouth was still quivering with his half-finished sentence hanging from his teeth, eager to be finished.

Spyro shook his head, not knowing nor caring what it was that they were arguing about. He just wanted to know exactly what it was they had found in the plains, and was determined to find out.

"Honestly, must you two pick an argument over the most ridiculous things?" Terrador asked, not even attempting to hide his annoyance. Spyro cleared his throat.

Terrador turned his head to the young dragons approaching him. "Ah, Spyro," he said in his usual deep, earthy voice. "This is unexpected. What brings you here?"

Spyro stopped before his earth mentor. "Well, Cynder, Flame, Ember and I were out on our usual walk outside the city," he replied. "When we came across something strange…" He held out the metal shard. "…this shard."

Terrador leaned down, examining the strange piece of metal. He took it in his own paw, twisting it around between his claws.

"Volteer," he said after a few minutes. "What do you make of this?" He handed the shard to the Electricity guardian, who examined it even closer.

After almost fifteen minutes, Spyro began to get impatient. He knew Volteer was thorough when he was studying something, but for something as small as this shard, it normally took Volteer less than a minute. The wait was nerve-wracking.

Finally, Volteer lowered the shard, his face bearing an extremely rarely seen confused look. "It appears to be a simple shard from a shattered metallic artwork," he said with almost unnatural quickness. It was difficult to understand what he was saying most of the time, but Spyro was used to it by now. "It's the pulsing that really confuses me."

He handed the shard back to Terrador, who gave it one last uneasy glance before giving it back to Spyro.

"So, you don't know exactly what it is?" Spyro asked.

"I'm sorry, young ones," Volteer said bitterly.

"Whatever it is," Terrador added. "It obviously isn't natural."

"When I picked it up, I felt like something was trying to pry open my mind," Spyro paused. "I think it was the shard."

Flame stared at him. "So, what, you think that shard is _alive?_" he snorted.

"We don't know enough about this shard to assume anything, young Flame," Terrador inserted. "For all we know, this shard could be just a simple metal shard…"

"Or something far worse than that," Cynder added. The guardians nodded in agreement.

"We've had far too many encounters with the unbelievable to rule out anything that we believe to be unbelievable." Cyril stated.

"We will look into the archives for any information of this shard," Terrador said. "In the meantime, keep it hidden. If it is something to be worried about, we will let you know."

"Yes, Master," Spyro and the others replied. With that, they turned and left for the main street.

Spyro took to the air so as to shorten his trip back to his and Cynder's room, Flame hot on his tail. Spyro knew why he was following him, but it would have to wait. He needed to put the shard away someplace safe.

He arrived at his room and opened the door. It was a decent size, large enough for two dragons to live comfortably together. Two beds sat side-by-side in the far corner, one covered with purple and gold pillows, the other with black and dark red. Two chests sat at the foot of each bed, which Spyro knew contained the various sets of armor he and Cynder had acquired throughout their adventures, as well as some red and green spirit crystals in case of emergency. The red crystals were for healing almost any injury, and the green for a boost in energy, however temporary.

Spyro opened his chest and placed the shard in a corner that was surprisingly untouched by crystals or armor. When he closed the chest again, he made certain to lock it, since it now contained a potentially dangerous object.

When he exited his room again, he nearly ran into Flame, whose tail was twitching with a combination of anticipation and impatience.

"So?" he said bluntly. "Forgetting something?"

Spyro gave in with a sigh. "Alright, you got yourself a rematch," he said.

Flame smiled cockily. "Alright, then! Race ya to the training courtyard."

"You're on!" Spyro said, suddenly eager to get the show on the road.

They both spread their wings and flew in the direction of the eastern courtyard, leaving the mysterious shard continuing to pulse from the depths of the chest...


	3. Chapter 2: The Legend of Soul Edge

**And I'm back! Here's the next chapter! Enjoy!**

Chapter 2: The Legend of Soul Edge

While Spyro and Flame are fighting in the courtyard, the shard they found rests inside Spyro's chest…

And its dark aura has already bled all the way across the world, far beyond the Great Dam to the North, deep into the Burned Lands, into the remains of the destroyed Dragon Temple, and down the shaft of the volcano, straight into the core of the world, and a great violet crystal.

Trapped inside the giant gem was an enormous dragon, malevolent yellow eyes closed, dark purple scales and brown underbelly, lighter purple wings, dark orange spikes, with a hooked tail blade. This was Malefor, the first Purple Dragon, and the Dark Master!

As the aura of the shard reached the crystal, the dragon's eyes snapped open. With newfound power, he unleashed it and shattered the crystal!

Hovering in midair, Malefor examines his surroundings, his eyes adjusting to the change of light, having been closed for three years. Once he regained his composure, he flew back up the shaft, and stopped in the ruins of his old lair, the Temple.

Slowly, his memories returned; his conquest of most of the Dragon Realms; the Destroyer completing its cycle; his battle with the traitor, Cynder, and the other, lesser Purple Dragon, Spyro; the world being destroyed… or so he thought.

The battle had left him in a weakened state. Never in his life had he fought such powerful dragons… powerful enough to rival even his near-infinite strength! And, weakened as he was, he couldn't hope to stand up to them again.

"Grrr…" he growled. "When I get my claws on that purple whelp…!"

But, no… he was not strong enough to fight him again, though it pained him to admit it.

For now, he would have to lay low, at least until his strength recovers…

Malefor looked to the south, in the direction of Warfang. "Enjoy your victory, Spyro, while you can," he snarled. "For next we meet, it will be the end of you and your pathetic Cynder, too…"

Spyro and Flame were still fighting in the training courtyard. Terrador had come to referee the match, while Cynder and Ember watched on the sidelines. The match was very close, and over the first quarter-hour of it, no one could gain the upper hand, until Flame made the mistake of tripping over his own tail.

Spyro took the opportunity and lunged forward, horns first. Just as Flame got back to his feet, Spyro scored a direct hit in his gut, knocking the wind out of him! Flame was thrown back halfway across the arena, landing in a heap on the other side, gasping for breath.

"Winner: Spyro!" Terrador declared after a ten-count. Cynder let out a breath she had been holding almost since the start of the fight, while Ember let out a groan before going to Flame's side.

Spyro wiped the sweat from his brow. "Phew! He's definitely getting better," he said.

"That he is," Terrador said with a nod.

Once he got his breath back, Flame got back to his feet. Still worried, Ember asked, "Are you alright?"

He looked at her with an irritated look. "Still worried about me?"

"I always worry about you, you big lug," she said playfully.

His expression turned to a sly smile. "Yeah, must be my fire dragon charm," he said before nuzzling Ember's snout lovingly, making her purr.

"Oh, jeez, get a mountain!" shouted a yellow dragonfly had hovering by Spyro's head

"Sparx!" he exclaimed. "When did you get here?"

"Oh, just now," the dragonfly said passively. "You know, I just wanted to see how your fight with the red guy over there went, but I come to find it already over, and _those _two doing…_that!"_

Flame broke from Ember, glaring at Sparx. "And what is _that _supposed to mean?"

"Oh, nothing, nothing!" Sparx said quickly, glancing around looking for a new subject.

Then Spyro noticed the sky. The sun was already low in the sky, the newly repaired wall and towers casting long shadows over the courtyard.

"It's getting late, guys," he said. "Come on, let's go to the mess hall, the moles are probably already serving dinner as we speak."

No sooner had Spyro mentioned "dinner" had Flame's stomach growled, as if on cue.

"Oh, good!" he said. "I'm starving!"

Ember giggled. "You always manage to forget about your hunger until after a fight."

After a hearty meal, and pleasant conversation with the moles and each other, Spyro, Cynder, Flame, and Ember left for their rooms for a good night's sleep.

"Good night, Spyro," Cynder said as she crawled into her bed.

"Good night, Cynder," he replied. But he just stared at the pale moons, his mind still racing, filled with thoughts of the day's events, of his umpteenth victory against Flame, and, most importantly, of the metal shard that still rested in the chest by his bed.

Cynder noticed his restlessness. "What's wrong, Spyro?"

He sighed. "I can't stop thinking about that shard we found."

"What about it?"

"That's just it; I don't know _why _I'm so obsessed with what it is. It's almost like it…" he paused.

"Like what?" Cynder asked, concern heavy in her voice.

After a few seconds, Spyro answered, "Like it's a bit of…_him."_

An uncomfortable silence fell over them for the next few minutes. Cynder knew who Spyro was talking about, and was considering the same prospect and fearing it at the same time. They both had the same, foreboding feeling…

It was Spyro who broke the silence. "We should get some sleep. There'll be time to think about it tomorrow."

"You're right," Cynder agreed. "Good night."

"Good night, Cynder."

With that, Spyro crawled into his bed. It took a few minutes, but sleep finally found him…

"_Spyro…"_ a distant voice said.

_Who is that,_ Spyro thought. The voice was oddly familiar… was it someone he knew?

"Hello?" he called into the darkness. "Who's there?" No response, just swirling grey mists on a black background.

Then, a sudden wind picked up, brushing aside the mist, and the background changed; it was no longer black, but grayish blue; a circular chamber formed, with a huge hourglass in the very center; bookshelves lined the walls, utterly stuffed with different colored books.

Spyro recognized this room; it was the Chronicler's Library. He had been here only once in the past, but he never forgot his journey to the White Isle. But…why had the Chronicler summoned him?

He glanced around the room, as if expecting the grey dragon to appear out of thin air. "Hello? Chronicler?"

"Yes, I'm here, Spyro," the voice spoke again, only this time it came from in the room, and Spyro heard the soft thud of heavy steps, slightly off as if their owner was limping. A dragon appeared from around the enormous hourglass.

Spyro's breath caught when he realized exactly who he was now looking at; a tall, elderly dragon around Terrador's height; he had broad shoulders, large wings, and a warm aura about him; the end of his tail and the spikes along his spine were shaped like flames; and the limp in his walk was a dead giveaway.

It was Spyro's Fire mentor, and the closest person he'd had to a father, Ignitus.

He couldn't contain himself any longer. He charged forward and tackled the former Fire Guardian (and would have knocked him over if not for his shear size compared to the still young Purple Dragon), and hugged his foreleg, shedding tears of joy.

"Ignitus…" he managed to say between sobs. "I can't believe…I missed you…"

Ignitus leaned down and pulled the Spyro into a tight embrace. "I missed you, too, young one," he said soothingly.

After a few minutes, Spyro recomposed himself. He no longer sobbed, but his eyes still shed tears. "What happened, Ignitus, at the Belt of Fire?" he asked. "How did you…?" he stopped there.

"How did I survive," Ignitus finished for him. "I myself believed my last act in this world would be to save you and Cynder. However, when all went dark around me, a light brushed aside the darkness, and I appeared before the original Chronicler in this very chamber. He had long ago chosen me to be his successor, and I accepted his offer. My first act was to find you and Cynder, and when I did, the two of you were playing in the fields." _Young love…_Ignitus said in his head.

It took Spyro almost an hour to grasp that Ignitus was still alive. Even then, he still hadn't quite fully grasped it, but at least he had stopped crying entirely. Then he began wondering, if the Chronicler had summoned him, even if it was Ignitus, then it must have been for a reason…and whatever that reason, it couldn't be good.

"So, Ignitus," he finally asked. "What's going on? I mean, somehow I get the feeling that you didn't call me here just to let me know you're still alive; you would have done that years ago."

"Yes, Spyro," Ignitus said, his voice now serious. "The world is not yet safe from darkness."

"But, what could threaten the Realms now?" Spyro was feeling a cross between confusion and anxiety. "Malefor's gone; his army is all but annihilated. And what could possibly be more threatening than _him?"_

"Think, Spyro. Just this last afternoon, something happened…something you and your friends were directly involved in, in the plains."

Spyro thought for a few seconds. "The shard…We found that metal shard, and…" he suddenly felt like an idiot. "It was emanating a dark aura, almost as powerful as Malefor's."

Ignitus nodded. "You were right to feel anxious about it. It is more than it appears…and not of this world."

This caught Spyro by surprise. "'Not of this world?' What do you mean?"

Ignitus motioned to one of the books, and it hovered over to him. "This will require me to tell you a very old story. One that the last Chronicler thought was of little consequence."

The book opened to about the middle, revealing a picture of a strange looking sword; it was abnormally large, roughly 7 feet from hilt to tip; the edge was silvery, but the rest was a fleshy red and orange; the strangest feature of the weapon was an open eye in the middle of the blade. After moments of staring at it, Spyro was bewildered when the eye actually blinked.

"Confused, aren't you?" Ignitus asked, seeing Spyro's confused look.

"Exactly what _is _that thing, Ignitus?" Spyro asked, slightly fearful of the answer.

"That is an ancient sword of immeasurable evil power; a literally living weapon that feeds on the souls of its victims…and its wielder." He paused. "It is called Soul Edge."

Just the name made Spyro shiver.

"Long ago," Ignitus began. "This demonic sword was on a mission to obtain unlimited power, and was gathering the souls of strong warriors. With its strength and the power of the one who wielded it, Soul Edge cut down any who stood against it."

"What was its wielder called?" Spyro asked.

"An evil human known only as Nightmare. You remember me telling you briefly about humans during the early stages of your training, don't you?"

"Yeah."

"Nightmare didn't stop with just one world, either." Ignitus continued. "Soul Edge needed to be fed with the souls of another world's residences." He turned the page: a picture of a knight in azure armor, standing on a pile of bodies, thrusting Soul Edge into the chest of a fully grown dragon. "Eventually, he came to the Dragon Realms. Though, he couldn't take the world entirely, he still left a lasting legacy of fear in the hearts of humans and dragons alike of that age.

"Over the years, Soul Edge was growing even more powerful. Nightmare seemed unstoppable. Until," He turned to a picture of Nightmare crossing blades with another human, though it was only a silhouette. This other human was holding another strange sword: It was glowing blue; it seemed to have flower peddles as a cross guard; the blade split in two down the middle, sharpened to two deadly points.

"A spirit sword named Soul Calibur, wielding an energy that was the polar opposite of that of Soul Edge, suddenly appeared as if from nowhere. The energy was of opposite origin, but of equal, if not more, power than the demonic sword." The next page was that of Soul Edge shattering under the force of an attack from Soul Calibur, and Nightmare falling to the ground, his helmet flying off, cleaved in half, exposing the face of a lightly colored human male, with blue eyes and long, blonde hair, a look of agony on his face, along with a fresh wound, just below his left eye.

"Nightmare and Soul Edge were defeated in their last battle in the Ostrheinsburg Castle," Ignitus continued. "The demon sword was shattered into countless pieces and scattered throughout the worlds, and Nightmare left in the void of evil."

_Whoa, _Spyro thought. "Hold on, back up. You keep talking about 'this world'…you mean that there are _other _worlds?"

"Yes, there are more worlds than just our own," answered Ignitus. "Each has its own inhabitants, geography, and legends. These worlds are called Planes."

"Wow…" he thought for a second. "You said that Soul Edge shattered," he shuddered even as he said the name. "…and that the shard we found was of great evil…" a thought formed in Spyro's head.

Ignitus seemed to know what he was thinking. "The shard you found is indeed a fragment of Soul Edge itself."

The fact hit Spyro like a club to the head from one of Malefor's trolls. He was currently harboring one of the world's most ancient evils, one worse than Malefor himself!

Ignitus continued. "You have already felt the power of Soul Edge when it tried to enter your mind. That was merely a fraction of the demon sword's true power." Spyro looked up, looking utterly stunned. "The shard must be destroyed, along with the rest of its kin."

"But how?" Spyro stammered. "We have only one shard, and there could be millions more! And what's worse, unless they all end up landing in the Dragon Realms, we'll _never_ be able to destroy them all! How are we supposed to do that?"

"Travel to the other Planes," Ignitus put bluntly.

Spyro gaped, astounded at what Ignitus was suggesting. How was it possible to travel to other worlds? When he voiced this, Ignitus said coolly, "I'm glad you asked."

"There's that smile again," Spyro said, recognizing the same smile Ignitus had on his face, before he taught Spyro how to fly.

"Most mortals cannot travel to other Planes, as few have knowledge of them. However, there are some who can almost literally walk from one Plane to another. These individuals are called Planeswalkers."

"And, if I'm reading the situation correctly," Spyro deduced. "You're going to teach me how to Planeswalk."

"You would be correct, my young pupil," Ignitus said…

After what seemed like six hours of instruction and vigorous simulations, Ignitus bade Spyro farewell and good luck.

Spyro woke up in his bed, sweating profusely. It took him a few minutes to realize exactly where he was. _Whoa,_ he thought. Ignitus' instructions were still fresh in his mind, and he was still grasping all the other things he had been told in the last several hours.

"Spyro…?" The voice startled him, and he turned to see Cynder stepping from her bed to the floor, a look of concern on her face.

"Cynder…" he started to get out of his own bed, but ended up tripping over one of the violet-gold pillows, and landed on the floor with a loud _thud._

Cynder was instantly at his side and helped him to his paws. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah…" he said, shaking himself to his senses. Then he smiled. "And so is Ignitus!"

"What…?" she was confused. "What are you talking about, Spyro? How can he be ok?" Her voice turned sad. "He's dead, we both saw it happen."

"No, he's not! He's the new Chronicler!" Spyro spent the next fifteen minutes explaining exactly what he had seen; from Ignitus becoming the Chronicler, to the truth of the shard and of Soul Edge, to the other worlds and how to travel to them.

When he finished, Cynder's expression was a mixture of relief, surprise, and utter worry. "And this all happened within the last six hours?" she asked.

"No, it seemed like almost eight…" he stared outside, expecting it to be around midmorning, but found the moons just starting to disappear behind the mountains. "Has it really only been six hours?" he thought aloud.

"Yeah." They both walked out the open double doors, onto a balcony with a full view of the north side of Warfang. The city was quiet except for the occasional cry of nocturnal birds in the distance. Cynder looked anxiously toward the Atrium on the left, then back to Spyro. "The Guardians need to know about this, Spyro," she said.

"I know, but it'll have to wait until morning. They'll be too deep asleep to wake at this hour." Spyro chuckled as he remembered sneaking through the Temple after Cynder six years ago, and the Guardians were snoring so loud then, Spyro couldn't even hear Sparx shouting.

"Ok, but first thing in the morning, we go straight to the Atrium." And with a yawn, she returned to her bed, but Spyro couldn't sleep another wink the rest of the night, there was so much he still hadn't fully wrapped his mind around yet…

**AAAAAAANNNNNNNDDDDDDD I think that's a good place to stop for now. To my readers, sorry I couldn't get this chapter in sooner, I'm a little limited on my daily time on the computer, so it's probably safe to assume that the story will be slow to update. It'll probably be about another week before the next chapter comes in. If sooner, cool. If later, I apologize.**


	4. Chapter 3: The Shard

**Hi, sorry for the delay. As i said in the note i left, i couldn't update until i got a name for the Soul Calibur world, and I got some help from Linira. I'm giving him all the credit for the name. Wanna know what it is? Well, either ask him, or read on!**

* * *

><p>Chapter 3: The Shard<p>

Spyro stayed up the rest of the night, which was only another hour or two before the morning sunlight came back over the mountains. Spyro made to go to the door for his usual breakfast routine, but was stopped when Cynder reminded him about the shard. After mentally slapping himself for forgetting about their agreement the previous night, he retrieved the shard from his bedside chest, and they left together for the Atrium.

Flame and Ember had just stepped out of their room in the dorms, and they spotted Spyro and Cynder running through the hall.

"Hey, Spyro," Flame said. "Where're you go- WHOA!"

He was cut short when Spyro jumped over him, and Cynder simply dodged between them, neither even stopping to say hi.

"Hey! Where're you guys going!" he called after them, but no response. He and Ember exchanged confused glances, before taking off after them.

Spyro and Cynder arrived at the Atrium to find the Guardians, along with a majority of the dragons in the city, already seated in the mess hall, and the moles serving various breakfast dishes.

Spyro looked at Cynder. "I know we need to talk to the Guardians, Cynder, but…" he paused as his stomach grumbled, practically demanding sustenance. "I think we have time to get some breakfast. We'll talk to them after we all get done eating."

"No, Spyro. We need to…" Her stomach growled even louder than Spyro's had. He raised a brow and cocked his head, with a light smile and a look of _"you were saying?" _written all over his face. "Ok, you win."

Spyro went to an empty table, but noticed Cynder walking to the Guardians' table. She exchanged a few words with Terrador, who nodded. Then she returned to the table Spyro had reserved.

"What was that about?" he asked her.

"Just making sure _we're _the first ones to talk to them today," she said. "They want us to meet them in their chambers after breakfast."

Just then, a mole walked up to their table, quill and parchment in hand. "And what can I do for you two this morning?" he asked, ready to record their orders…

Roughly half an hour later, the diners began dispersing, and Terrador made for the doors leading to the Guardians' chambers. Cyril and Volteer followed suit. Before disappearing into the chamber, Terrador nodded to Spyro and Cynder, who were waiting for them to finish. Weaving their way through the departing crowd, they followed Terrador in, who closed the door behind him.

"Now, what is this about, Cynder?" Terrador asked calmly.

"Yes, when you asked for a private meeting with us," Volteer chimed in. "You certainly seemed concerned, uneasy, anxious, apprehensive," And, once again, he tripped over his own tongue, making Cyril roll his eyes.

Cynder looked at Spyro, then back at the Guardians. "Spyro had a vision last night," she said. This caught their attention instantly.

"Are you sure it was a vision, young ones?" Cyril asked.

"We're sure," Spyro said.

The Guardians exchanged glances. "What did you see, Spyro, in this vision?" Terrador asked.

Spyro racked his memory. "Uh, do you want the _good _news first, or the _bad_ news?"

"Good news, please," Cyril sighed.

"I thought you'd say that," Cynder put in.

Spyro took a deep breath. "It's about Ignitus." The Guardians' faces grew even more intent. "He's alive. He's been chosen to be the next Chronicler."

The elder dragons' eyes widened. "That _is_ good news," Volteer exclaimed. "How intriguing."

"Yes, to be selected as the Chronicler is a great honor," Terrador stated. "I should have guessed it would be Ignitus who would be given the honor of recording this age in the history of the dragon race."

Spyro could sense the joy radiating from them. Their oldest colleague, who was also their closest friend, was alive, albeit he didn't actually survive. Spyro shared their bliss, only he felt it more than he had in his whole life. But the moment was short-lived.

Terrador's smile disappeared. "And…what's the bad news?" he asked bitterly.

Spyro came back to reality, and remembered exactly why they were having this meeting. "We're not safe yet."

"What do you mean?" Cyril asked.

"Have any of you ever heard of something called 'Soul Edge'?"

Terrador and Cyril looked confusedly at each other. Spyro thought they had no idea what he was talking about, until…

"I do believe I have, young ones," Volteer spoke excitedly. "I remember reading a paragraph in one of the oldest history books in the library. I think it was about…" he looked thoughtfully at the ceiling. "…ten years ago, but then I believed it to be hearsay, gossip, legend. It was hard to believe, difficult to fathom, amazing to comprehend, that a single weapon could be so powerful…"

"Uh, Volteer," Cyril interrupted. "Apologies, but Terrador and I have absolutely _no_ idea what you and Spyro are talking about."

"Cyril is right," Terrador agreed. "Exactly what is this 'Soul Edge'?"

Spyro and Volteer explained simultaneously, the electricity guardian actually slowing his speech so that he and the purple dragon spoke at exactly the same pace, and Spyro talking alone in several places, where Volteer didn't know the exact details.

"And the shard that we found in the plains…" Spyro said as he held it up. "…is one of the shards of Soul Edge. That's why I feel a malevolent aura coming from it."

"This…this is incredible," Cyril breathed. He and Terrador glanced at each other, at Volteer, who shrugged, and then to Spyro and Cynder. "Are you two sure? That this is all true?"

"Absolutely," Spyro said adamantly.

He handed the shard to Terrador upon his request. After a few minutes of silence, he spoke, "Then we must follow Ignitus' instructions. These shards must be sought out and destroyed, starting with this one."

At first, Spyro agreed. But then he realized that he didn't know where any of the others were. "Wait!" Terrador was about to smash the shard when Spyro spoke up, and the earth guardian now stared at him, puzzled. "I think we can use this shard to find the others," Spyro continued.

"What are you suggesting, Spyro?" Terrador asked skeptically.

"The aura it emits, I can easily recognize," the purple dragon explained. "And if we take the shard with us, it may attract the others to it. They seem to want to come back together, to become whole again. It'll make it easier to destroy them all at once, rather than one at a time."

The guardians looked skeptical at first, but agreed to the plan after a few minutes of deliberation. "Your reasoning is sound, young dragon," Volteer said quickly. "We certainly taught you well."

"Now, we need to figure out how to get to these other worlds, so we may better get started on this search," Cyril suggested as he made his way to the door. They all followed suit.

As they pulled the doors open, there were two shouts of surprise and two simultaneous thuds directly in front of them. Flame and Ember lay on the floor.

"What is the meaning of this?" Terrador demanded.

They stood up. "We're sorry, Master Terrador," Flame said quickly. "We were following Spyro and Cynder from their rooms, but we lost track of them in the crowd."

"We came here to see if you'd seen them," Ember continued. "When we heard voices coming from the door."

Terrador's face turned strict. "In! Now" he commanded. The two fire dragons were inside the chambers in an instant. Terrador locked the doors again, and rounded on Flame and Ember. "Confound it all, you two, what have I told you about eavesdropping?"

They stared at the floor. "Not to…" they answered bitterly.

"What did the two of you hear?" Terrador demanded. They looked silently at each other. "Speak!" he shouted, causing Ember to let out a short squeal.

"N-n-nothing important!" Flame stammered. "Well, that is we heard quite a bit about a sword…Soul Edge, I think it was…and something about the end of the world, but…"

"Please, Master Terrador, sir!" Ember pleaded. "We were just curious! We didn't mean any harm!"

"Y-yeah! Please," Flame continued. "Don't make us do anything…too difficult…"

Spyro and Cynder chuckled, and Flame shot them a look that easily spelled _I'll get you guys later…_

Then, Terrador's face softened. "No? Perhaps not," he said, as the corners of his mouth curled into a sly smile. "I've thought of a better use for you two." Flame and Ember cringed at this. What were they going to be put through?

* * *

><p>Malefor paced impatiently up and down in his thrown room. He could feel his strength returning, but it would take at least another month for him to be fully restored.<p>

_I still don't understand exactly how those two _whelplings _were able to defeat me in the first place!_ He continued to pace for another hour, absorbed in his thoughts.

Two hours…

Three hours…

Then he felt another presence…a dark presence. _I thought I was the only one with this kind of power on this world…_ He flew out to investigate. The further he flew from the mountain, the stronger the presence seemed.

He slanted downward and landed at the base of a dead tree trunk. There was a hollow in it, but he didn't feel like being Mr. Nice Guy, and destroyed it. In the remains, pulsing red and silver, was a strange metal shard, and with each pulse came a pulse of dark energy.

It was at least worthy of curiosity, he decided. He grasped the tiny shard between two claws, and held it up at eye level.

Just then, he felt that same energy brush against his mind. He didn't even have to think to block it out, but he still heard its voice.

_I sense your anger, dragon,_ it said. _I can sense your desire to defeat these two dragon whelps that bested you._

He looked around confusedly for the source of the voice, then back to the shard. It was the only other thing around, so the voice must be coming from it. It was alive!

_Yes, dragon, it is I who is speaking to you. I sense your desire for power, and I can relate._

"_Don't pretend to know me!"_ he shouted out loud, as well as in his mind. _"You have no idea what I've been through to obtain this level of power!"_

_I can help you, dragon. _

"_Stop calling me 'dragon'! I have a name, and if you were paying attention to my supposedly radiating thoughts, you'd know!"_

_Yes, I know, Malefor. _Malefor was surprised that such a small object, seemingly inanimate, could know so much about him. _As I said, I can help you,_ it continued. _You want more power? I can give it to you._

Malefor was skeptical. _"Exactly what are you?"_

_I am Soul Edge…at least, a fragment of that ultimate weapon. I feed on the souls of those whom I have killed, which I now count to be at least twenty-thousand humans, thirteen-hundred apes, four-thousand wolves, and nine-hundred-and-forty-three dragons, many from this world._

_So, I was right to assume there were other worlds, _the dark dragon thought.

_My previous wielder was defeated, and the sword was shattered. The others, my brothers, are already on their way to the world of our forging. I must go and meet them, so we may become whole again. And for that, I need someone to take me there._

_I make you this offer, Malefor: Use the power that this tiny fragment can bestow and take it to the Plane known as the Soul Void and, once I am complete once more, I will grant you infinite power…the power to destroy all those who have wronged you in the past, including the two whelplings, Spyro and Cynder!_

Malefor thought long and hard about the offer. He knew he needed to become even more powerful if he wished to defeat Spyro and Cynder, but was reluctant to admit it. Eventually, he decided.

"_Very well, it seems we both need each other, though I buy it with a great pain. I accept your offer, but I expect you to hold up your end of the bargain, _in full!"

_I'm so glad you see it my way. _There was a warped chuckle, then… _Also, there is one small matter to be dealt with first…_

Malefor was about to question this when he felt a strong entity attack his mind. He cursed himself for letting his guard down, and threw up his mental defenses. _Damn you, Soul Edge, _he screamed in his mind. Once he had his consciousness solidified once more, he thrust his mind at the shard's consciousness with all his might! If this shard believed it could take over his mind, it was sorely mistaken!

In less than a minute he had the shard subdued. _Traitors and double-crossers will not be tolerated under my command, _he said angrily to the shard. _I am the Dark Master, and I will _not _be defeated by a mere piece of metal! _

_Very well, Malefor, _the shard managed to say, though it sounded completely exhausted. How could it, Soul Edge, the demon sword of souls, be bested by a mere dragon? _I am yours to command, _it gasped.

_Good, _Malefor said. _Now, if I am to obtain this ultimate power you promised, I will need to know, how do I get to these other worlds?_

The shard obviously didn't want to answer, now that it had met its match at mind games, and for a short while it was silent.

Malefor could sense its hesitation, and shouted, _"SPEAK! Or perhaps another lessen is in order?"_

_NO! _the shard pleaded. _You win! I'll do whatever you ask of me! Just, please! No more…_

"_Then, answer me! How do I get to the world your other parts are converging on?"_

A few seconds of silence, then…

The shard spoke one last time: _Planeswalking…_

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><p><strong>AAAAAANNNNNDDDD scene! What could possibly be Terrador's thoughts for Flame and Ember?<strong>

**I believe this is my longest chapter so far. Not much action yet, I apologize. But I've made certain that there will be some fighting within the next chapter or two. Also, I'd like to give a shout-out to Linira. He helped me name the Soul Calibur world. 'Soul Void'...**

**And, I lied about what I said in the last chapter, I seriously underestimated my typing speed, and I haven't had as much homework as I expected. It won't be as slow as I thought for updating. But, it probably will get slower as we proceed further into action scenes. Of all the things about writing, it's fighting that has never been one of my strong points. **

**So, yeah! See you guys later! I appreciate reviews; sorry I forgot to mention this in the last chapter, but thanks for taking the time to read my story.**


	5. Chapter 4: Planeswalking

Chapter 4: Planeswalking

"Do you think there'll be any spirit crystals in this other world?" Cynder asked.

"I don't know," Spyro answered. "But, just in case, we'd better pack at least a week's worth for the four of us."

Flame and Ember were a little leery about leaving the only world they'd ever known, but Terrador had decided that, since they'd overheard enough of their conversation to know what they were up to, they might as well go with. They'd been preparing themselves for the trip ever since.

Though they could spend the rest of their time searching the surrounding areas for crystals, they needed to save their strength for the journey, and resorted to borrowing them from the healer's den.

Finally, the sun had set, replaced by the celestial moons, casting a pale blue light over the city. They left for their rooms.

"See you guys in the morning," Spyro said to Flame and Ember as they walked off to their rooms. "Remember, we leave no later than an hour after breakfast, so no sleeping in."

"Sure thing." And with that, they disappeared around the corner.

Spyro and Cynder practically flopped on their beds, eager to get some shut-eye.

"'Night, Cynder."

"Try and make sure you actually get to sleep earlier than midnight, this time," Cynder joked.

Spyro sighed and stared at the ceiling. "So, we're going on another adventure, huh?"

"Yeah, only this time, we've got Flame and Ember with us, and it's in another world."

"Huh? What's this about 'adventure' and 'another world'?"

Spyro's head bolted up when he heard Sparx's voice for the first time all day.

"Sparx? Where've you been all day?" he asked his foster brother.

"Looking for _you_ two all day!" the dragonfly said defensively. "I woke up this morning, found your little nests messy, you guys gone, and the door wide open! I looked all over the city for you guys and couldn't find ya!"

Spyro looked at him in annoyance. "Sparx…did you actually even _look?"_

"Spyro, just drop it," Cynder cut in. "He's never gonna admit he never left the room."

"True, so true." Spyro said before laying his head down again.

Luckily, Sparx let out a yawn before he could argue, and fluttered down to Spyro's head and rested on his horn. In minutes, they were all asleep…

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><p>Spyro woke the next morning fully rested. When he moved his head, Sparx fell from his horn onto his muzzle. He lifted the dragonfly off and gently placed him on the pillow next to him; he didn't want Sparx to come with him this time, so it was best not to let him know when they were leaving. After quietly rousing Cynder, they left and made for the mess hall.<p>

"It kind of feels strange, leaving Sparx behind," Spyro said as he, Cynder, Flame, and Ember seated themselves at the table closest to the door.

"He's always been right there with you, except for when we faced Malefor," Cynder said. "It's only natural that you've gotten used to his presence, however annoying it may be."

"Yeah," Flame said. "But, I swear, his mouth just doesn't know when to close!"

"And I've had to live with that mouth my entire life," Spyro joked. "Try that one on for size!" They all had a good laugh at that.

A short while later, they finished eating and left the mess hall earlier than they normally would. That didn't attract the attention of the other dragons in the hall, which surprised Spyro.

They returned to their rooms to retrieve their respective traveling packs, each full of a week's supply of healing and mana crystals, and then met in the training courtyard, where the guardians were waiting for them.

"Are you four ready?" Terrador asked.

"We're ready, Master," they said simultaneously.

"Good. Now, Spyro," Cyril addressed him directly. "Are you sure you can do this? I understand Ignitus gave you a good deal of training in this area, but I also understand that you've never attempted this in reality."

"One thing I've learned in my time here is that anything is possible, if you just believe it is," Spyro answered confidently.

"Very well," Terrador said. "If you feel confident, you may continue."

Spyro nodded and walked to the center of the courtyard.

He closed his eyes and, remembering Ignitus' instructions, reached deep into his own mind, searching for a part he'd never been to. It took him a few minutes, but eventually felt resistance at a deep area of his mind. He flung himself with all his might at the mental wall, and eventually overcame it. Once the barrier was down, the energy that was inside flowed like an unclogged river through his entire body, and he felt more powerful than ever!

For a second, he forgot what to do next. Then Ignitus' voice echoed in his head. _Once you have ignited your Planeswalker Spark, and have hold of the energy it possesses, search the area with your mind, and try to see the flow of energy flowing between this world and the other Planes. Once you see it, all you need to do is _will_ the door to open, and your Spark will do the rest._

Spyro scanned the area with his mind for even the slightest trace of inter-planar energy flow. For a minute, he couldn't see a thing, and the others were staring at him uncomfortably. He'd just been standing there for almost fifteen minutes; he seemed like a statue. Flame was about to say something when Ember instantly shot him a "SHUSH!" look, and he closed him mouth.

Then, Spyro saw something he hadn't noticed before: the light in the air around the center of the courtyard seemed to ripple and bend, as though something were distorting it. He concentrated with all his might on the very center of the anomaly, saying in his mind over and over again: _Open the door…Open the door…Please, open the door…_

Eventually, he heard what sounded like his own voice, though he never remembered if he had even said it or not: _Consider it done..__._

With that, the energy from his Spark flowed to his mouth, forcing him to open it and release the energy. The resulting beam shot forward and struck the point where the anomaly had been, and with a very audible _whoosh,_ a portal opened. It was purple around the edges, with what looked like gold lines swirling on a black background, meeting in the center.

Spyro returned to the shelter of his mind and opened his eyes to examine his work. Satisfied that it was indeed an actual portal, he turned to see his friends with their jaws almost on the ground, and the guardians looking purely impressed; Even Volteer didn't have anything to say; he merely sat on his haunches with his eyes focused and his mouth cracked open.

It was a few seconds before Terrador found his voice. "So, it _is _true…" He turned his head to face Spyro, and his expression changed to one of respect. "You _are _a Planeswalker."

Volteer chimed in. "The first dragon Planeswalker in many a millennia, I must say!"

"Of all the feats you were capable of, Spyro," Cyril said, "this was one I never thought I'd live to see happen! And, one of my own pupils, I might add!"

"Uh, guys?" Flame interrupted, catching all their attention. "Hate to break up the whole moment of awe, but we have a job to do, remember?"

"Yeah, plus," Spyro gave a strenuous grunt. "I can't exactly hold this thing open for much longer, so I'd appreciate it if we save this for later, and _go._"

"Right!" Cynder, Flame, and Ember said simultaneously. Flame and Ember were the first to enter the portal. Cynder was next, though she stopped to give Spyro an affectionate look that made him blush, and he was thankful that his purple scales hid it.

As she stepped into the portal, Terrador spoke. "Spyro…" He tossed a small crystal to him. It was roughly three inches in diameter, roughly spherical, and gave off a feint violet light. While he held it, he felt Terrador's consciousness seeming to rub up against his own. _A message crystal!_

"We'll keep in touch," Spyro assured his mentors.

"Contact us as _soon _as you reach the right Plane," Terrador ordered.

Spyro nodded before turning and entering the portal himself. As he severed the energy flowing form his Spark and the portal began to closed, he heard the one voice his didn't want to hear: Sparx.

"_SPYYYYYYRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!__"_ the dragonfly screamed as he flew at a speed Spyro didn't think was possible. "YOU ARE _NOT _LEAVING WITHOUT MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

The portal was only a foot away from closing entirely when Sparx slipped through the portal, and slammed flat up against Spyro's chest with a _splat, _and the portal closed.

Sparx slipped off Spyro a few seconds after hitting him, but caught himself with his wings and started fluttering again.

"Sparx?" Spyro was trying to hide his irritation while he tried to speak. "W-w-what are you doing?"

Sparx was out of breath. "You…you are _not_…going…going _anywhere_…without…me…!" he said between gasps.

"Whoa!" Flame was stunned. "How fast do you think you were going?"

A minute later, Sparx caught his breath. "Uh, I don't know, really."

"I'd say at least 50 miles an hour!" Ember exclaimed. "You could've almost kept up with Zephyra, and she's the fastest flier in the city!"

Spyro's eyes widened as he examined his surroundings; they seemed to float in midair, surrounded by blackness peppered with stars, though they felt something solid underneath their paws.

"What is this place?" Ember asked as she looked around.

"Ignitus called this place the 'Lanes Between', the void between Planes," Spyro answered.

Spyro found the constellation Draco that he'd seen so many times in the past. Many times back then, one of the stars where the eyes would be flashed as if to wink, and he smiled as it happened again; it reminded him of Ignitus. Several other objects, the other Planes, were also floating in the great void. Spyro noticed that one in the distance seemed to be broken into five parts; He looked back at the Dragon Realms, and saw an arch in front of it and similar arches by the nearby Planes as well.

Once Sparx got over the shock of seeing the great expanse, he said, "Ok, so, _what _are we doing in a place that contains, besides us, _ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!" _

Spyro explained their mission, as he was stuck with them now. When he finished, Sparx folded his arms.

"And how are we supposed to narrow down exactly where to look on? It looks like there could be thousands of worlds in here!"

Cynder cleared her throat. "Spyro, you said that the shard we found would help…how, exactly?"

Spyro noticed that the shard seemed to pull slightly in one direction; he guessed it was to a particular world. He voiced this to the others, adding that he believed that the other shards may be doing the same, and some may already _be_ at that world. "So, if we follow the direction it pulls…"

"…we find the other shards." Cynder finished.

Spyro nodded. "And then we can destroy this thing once and for all."

"Well, than, what're you waiting for, big boy?" Sparx said impatiently. "Let's get crackin'!"

Spyro held the shard at eye level. After a few seconds, the shard shifted, leaning in his paw forward and to the left. He tried to see exactly which world it was pointing at, but there were five in that direction. "It's somewhere _that_ way."

He walked on, the others right behind him (though, he still wondered exactly what they were walking _on_.). Once he passed the arch for the first world, the shard shifted again, pointing at the world they just passed. "Here!"

They looked at the arch. There were intricate designs on it; on one side was a sword Spyro recognized as the Spirit sword, Soul Calibur. He recognized the split in the blade from tip to guard. On the other side was a larger word with an eye in the center of the blade.

"What is that thing?" Cynder asked, staring at the eyed sword.

"Soul Edge…" Spyro answered. _"That's _what we're up against."

He approached the arch. Seeming to react to his presence, the swords glowed with their respective colors (Soul Calibur blue, Soul Edge red), and the same portal they entered through opened.

"Well, guys," he began. "Our new journey begins here…" he stopped, and turned his gaze to the Dragon Realms. He felt something…a dark presence…a familiar presence…_Is that…?_

Cynder noticed the concern on his face. "Spyro?" No response. "Spyro, what is it?"

"I…I don't know…" he sounded anxious. "I thought I just felt…him…" He shuddered at the thought. _No…It can't be him…maybe it's just the shard trying to play with my head…_ "Never mind, let's go." He stared at the shard. _We've got to get rid of this thing as soon as possible._

They each stepped into the portal, and entered an entirely new world, not knowing what to expect…

* * *

><p><strong>There. Spyro has his very first <em>actual<em> Planeswalk, and they arrive at the Soul Void. **

**And, just a little disclaimer here: I didn't make up Planeswalking, or Planeswalkers; those ideas belong to Wizards of the Coast and are from the Magic the Gathering TCG. Just making sure that's common knowledge. **

**Well, see ya when i post the next chapter! And, I PROMISE there will be some action!**


	6. Chapter 5: First Encounter

**And now, the group arrives in the Soul Void, and have their first non-dragon encounter. See how they fare.**

* * *

><p>Chapter 5: First Encounter<p>

When the group emerged from the portal, they found themselves in a vast field of golden yellow wheat grass that stretched on for miles; Judging from the position of the sun in the apparently high noon sky, there were small hills to the north, enormous mountains to the west, and Spyro thought he could see an ocean to the south. The east held more plains, far as the eye could see.

Just as they began to grasp they had come to another Plane, the portal to the Lanes Between closed, though only Spyro noticed.

"Where are we?" Flame and Cynder asked simultaneously, their jaws hanging nearly four inches open.

"I have no idea," Spyro said. He looked at the shard of Soul Edge in his paw; it was now pulsing noticably faster than it had in the Dragon Realms. "But i think we're in the right place."

"I don't know," Ember said, sounding nauseous. "but, i think I'm gonna be..." Her last words were lost as she thrust her head down and vomited.

"Ember!" Flame rushed to her side instantly. "You ok? What's wrong?"

She stood back up, shuddering, before coughing. "I...I don't know," she managed to say between coughs.

"Sorry, guys," Spyro said. "I should've warned you about leaving the Lanes Between. Ignitus said it can get a little unsettling when leaving to another Plane."

Ember coughed again, trying to get the stomach acid out of her throat. "You don't say!" she said, fully aggitated, before coughing again.

"Here," Spyro said before using his Earth powers to create a stone bowl from the ground. He then breathed ice into it, making a pool of ice. Then, he melted the ice into fresh, pure water with his fire breath. "Drink this, it'll help."

Ember threw herself at the water and had it down in a few gulps, clearing her throat. "Thanks, Spyro," she said to the purple dragon.

"No problem."

Then Spyro remembered something. He pulled out the crystal that Terrador had given him and activated it. It hummed for a few seconds, and then an image of the Earth guardian shown in the air above the crystal.

"Hello, young ones," he said.

"Master Terrador?" Flame and Ember shouted simultaneously.

Cynder looked at Spyro. "Something _else_ you forgot to mention, i take it?" He nodded.

"Yes," Terrador said. "Before you left, i gave Spyro this crystal so we may keep in contact. Take care not to lose it."

"Understood, Master." they all said.

"You told me to contact you as soon as we arrived in the right world, Terrador." Spyro said.

"So I did, and I believe it is safe to assume you found the right world, am i right?" When Spyro nodded, Terrador continued, "Very good. Now, you remember your mission, right?"

"Find the other shards, destroy them, come home." Spyro and Cynder said simultaneously. (No one heard Sparx mutter, "Yeah, hopefully in one piece.")

"Good." Terrador nodded with approval. Then his expression turned serious. "Now, remember, you four: we don't know anything about this world; its inhabitants, its dangers; we know nothing about what to expect. Proceed with caution!"

"Yes, Master." they replied, and the crystal deactivated.

"Well," Spyro said. "We'd better get moving."

As he took a step toward the field, he gave a slight yelp and fell to the ground, startling the others.

"Spyro!" Cynder rushed to his side. "What's wrong?"

Spyro shook his head. "I'm fine..." He tried to stand up. His legs gave way again, but he managed to catch himself. "Just a little drained..." _Ignitus warned me that Planeswalking takes a lot of energy, I am so stupid!_

Cynder reached into her satchel and removed two small green crystals. "Here, use these." But Spyro waved them off.

"No, we may need those later," he said. "Save them for emergencies."Cynder shook her head at his stubornness and returned the gems to her pouch. "Just...give me a few minutes, I'll be fine."

"Yeah," Flame said. "I think we could _all _use some rest time; Ember's exhausted from coughing, I'm a little drained from getting her to stop, you're tired from using that new power of yours, and helping Ember, and Cynder, you..._are _you at all tires?"

"A little." she admitted.

"Well, the dragons have spoken: we rest now, and travel later." Flame declared before flopping on the ground next to Ember, who had taken to the ground herself, while Cynder rested next to Spyro, and Sparx landed on his horn.

"So," Flame spoke, breaking a fifteen-minute silence between them. "What exactly are we looking for in this world?"

"More shards of Soul Edge," Spyro said. "We need to find them all in order to destroy them."

"Ok, so we find more evil little metal thingies, just so we can carry them around until we find them all?" Sparx complained. Everyone looked at him; this was the first time he had spoken since they arrived. "Great! And I thought we'd just come here to return the one we already _have _to it's owner!"

Spyro leaned in closer to Cynder and whispered, _"This_ is why I wanted to leave him behind." Cynder chuckled softly. Luckily, Sparx didn't notice. Sparx's rant didn't last much longer, and by the time he'd finished, they were fully rested.

"Ok, let's move out, guys," Spyro said as he stood up.

"One question first," Sparx chimed in again. "Um, exactly _where _are we going to _go?"_

Spyro grimaced. He hadn't thought about which way to go. Just when he began to think, he heard a dark voice whisper in his head: _Northeast... _He glanced down at the shard. Was it speaking to him just now? _Northeast..._came the voice again. It was definitely the shard talking...

"Spyro?" He snapped out of his trance when he heard Cynder's voice, and looked up to see her and Sparx looking at him with skeptical faces.

"I think we should go northeast," he said confidently.

"Are you sure, Spyro?" Cynder asked.

"Yeah...I'm sure." _At least, I _think_ I am... _

And they were off, flying in the opposite direction of the sun in the now mid-afternoon sky. Spyro didn't know weither he should trust the shard's directions or not. Was it trying to help them to find its bretheren, or leading them into a trap? Either way, it was the only lead they had.

* * *

><p>A few minutes after they left their campsite, a portal opened miles to the east, and a dark purple dragon flew through. Malefor had donned a minor set of dark armor, forged of his own powers, and wore the shard of Soul Edge he found around his neck, held by a thin line of energy flowing from the shard itself.<p>

He landed at the top of a nearby mountain and examined the landscape, wondering exactly where the other shards would be meeting at.

When he asked the shard, it answered, _the other shards are already merged into one. I can sence it. They are in the dark country of Antares, at the farthest end of this Plane, due east. _

Satisfied, Malefor took spread his wings agian and flew east, not even thinking about stopping until he found Soul Edge...

* * *

><p>They had been flying for two hours, and the sun was now low in the sky, when Spyro spotted a crumbling rampart in the distance. When he mentioned this to the others, they all agreed to set down there for the night.<p>

As they landed, Spyro noticed three bodies piled in a corner. When he wondered what they were, he remembered the book Ignitus showed him.

"What are they?" Cynder asked, examining the corpses.

"Ignitus said they're called 'humans'," Spyro said. "They're likely the dominant race of this Plane."

"These wounds are fresh," Cynder said, taking a step back from the bodies. "They died less than an hour ago." _That explained why their minds just now disappeared_, Spyro thought.

Just then, Spyro felt another conciousness in the vacinity; it was human, and it radiated a level of focus he'd never felt before. "We're not alone."

The instant he spoke, they heard a battle cry above them, and Spyro jumped to the side just in time to avoid a sword. Its wielder was a human, male, judging from his voice, with long, black hair tied behind his head, red wooden-looking armor convering his torso and arms, and obviously ready for battle!

"Who are you?" he demanded. "What are you doing here?"

"Please, we don't want to fight!" Spyro said, appauled by the human's outburst. "We just stopped here to rest!"

"Yeah," Flame added. "We've been flying for two and a half hours! Can't you at least cut us a little slack?"

"I find it hard to believe that four dragons would come here simply for relaxation," the human said imperiously. "Particularly four dragons _your _age!"

"We're telling the truth!" Flame shouted, steam coming out of his mouth with every word.

The human pointed his sword at the young fire breather. "With your attitude, dragon, I'm surprised you're still alive with the troubles the world suffers these days."

This only proceeded to anger Flame even more. "What the hell is that supposed to mean!" he screamed, but the human was unperturbed.

"Heh...It means that you won't stand a chance against me, Mitsurugi, Samurai of the Fire!"

"Willing to bet your life on that?" Flame got into his battle stance. "Cause I'm itching for a fight right now!"

They all got into battle positions. _Flame,_ Spyro thought. _You've done it again..._

Mitsurugi charged, sword held like a bat at his shoulder. Just before he reached them, Spyro blew a cloud of ash into the human's eyes. That distraction was enough for the dragons to dodge the katana with ease, although it didn't actually do much damage.

Mitsurugi turned to Spyro, eyes slightly bloodshot from his breath attack. "You dare to fight me with such deception? If you're a dragon, fight like one! with honor!"

"I take it you want a one-on-one fight?" Spyro said, preparing himself. When Mitsurugi nodded, Spyro said to the others, "Stay out of this one, guys."

"Spyro, what are you doing?" Sparx said, his voice full of surprise.

"Fighting the way i was taught!"

"Well, then," Mitsurugi siad. "Don't..." he paused to crack his neck. "...cry!"

With that, the human charged and attempted to run Spyro through. The purple dragon sidestepped and made to counter, but instead of continuing on, Mitsurugi swung his sword in Spyro's direction. He barely had enough time to block with his wing, and the attack bounced off harmlessly.

Next came a barrage of attacks from the samurai, all of which Spyro either dodged or blocked. The human's attacks were relentlyss; Spyro couldn't even throw in an attack of his own! _How am i supposed to win if i can't even hit him?_

After fifteen minutes of constant attacks, Spyro noticed that Mitsurugi was getting slower. _He must be tiring,_ Spyro thought. _So am __I. If I can just land one hit..._

Spyro took a chance. The next time Mitsurugi brought his sword down, Spyro dodged and jumped for the katana. He caught it between his jaws and held it firm. While the samurai was startled by this move, Spyro thrust his leaf-tail at him. He missed the human's ear by mere milimeters, and it gave him the time to recover. He swung the sword again, Spyro still clinging to it. He was slammed into the ground several times before he thought of a new plan.

The blade still clentched between his jaws, Spyro unleashed all his energy into a stream of dragon fire, heating the katana to glowing red hot. The inside of Spyro's mouth burned from the heat of the blade, but he held on, defying the pain. A few seconds later, the entire blade glowed with heat, and Mitsurugi's eyes widened with shock.

After a few more seconds, the heat had gone to the sword's hilt, and Mitsurugi was forced to release the sword.

No sooner than, Spyro let go and went on the offensive, sending attack after attack at his opponent. Mitsurugi, however, was faster than he looked, and only sustained a few blows, dodging the rest with a series of jumps and sidesteps.

A minute into the barrage, Mitsurugi performed a rolling dodge to the left, avoiding Spyro's tail thrust, and grabbed his katana.

Spyro knew he had to end this fight. He opened his mouth and unleashed a river of ice at the samurai. He had no way of blocking or dodging the attack, and was frozen from legs to his neck, and his face turned to one of complete and utter shock.

"Ice? How did you...?"

He didn't have time to finish when Spyro charged three electric orbs and threw them all at once. The voltage shattered the ice and sent Mitsurugi flying into the grated wall just to the left of where Ember was watching, causing her to yelp in surprise and run to the other side of the bulwark.

"Electricity, too?" Mitsurugi exclaimed, not even attempting to hide the fear in his voice. "How the hell are you..."

He was silenced again; Spyro slammed his paw on the wooden surface, and a boulder burst from the stone wall, throwing Mitsurugi of his feet and across the platform again (and narrowly missing Ember for the second time). He slid to the edge, and stopped. When Spyro walked up to him, he pinned him to the ground, his front paw on the human's face, which was over the edge of the platform, while his weight, combined with the weight of his satchel, held down his arms and legs.

"Do you conceed?" Spyro asked, shifting his paw so the human could speak, but fully expecting a 'no'.

Mitsurugi gulped and, with obvious reluctance, said, "...Yes...I am beaton..."

Surprised, Spyro removed his paw and got off the human, who remained in place for a few minutes, catching his breath.

Mitsurugi finally stood up, leaning on his sword for support. "You..." he gasped. "You are unlike any other dragon i've ever met in my life! You can wield fire, ice, earth, and electricity! How...?"

"I'm a rare Purple Dragon, cabable of doing just that, and more." Spyro answered.

"I see...That would explain the strange scale color." Mitsurugi now stood on his own, and sheathed his katana. They were silent for the next few minutes, staring at each other as if expecting the other to make a hostile movement. Finally, Mitsurugi broke the silence. "Who are you, and where are you from?"

_I suppose there's no harm in telling him the truth..._"My name is Spyro. With me are Cynder," she stepped forward and nodded. "...Flame..." he stepped forward and glared daggers at the samurai. "...and Ember." She stepped forward nervously, and nodded.

"Hey!" Sparx fluttered down in front of Spyro's face. "You forgot to mention ME! What am I, chopped liver?"

"A talking mosquito?" Mitsurugi said. "You _are _a strange group."

"Hey, whoa whoa! Who're you calling a mosquito?" Sparx rounded on the samurai, shaking his fists at him. "It's 'dragonfly' to you, big guy!"

Spyro sighed. "And this is Sparx. He's been with us since we started our journey."

"From where, i might ask?" Mitsurugi eyed the purple dragon with suspision.

Spyro and Cynder exchanged glances, and he reached for her mind. When she let him in, he asked her, _Do you think we should tell him?_

_I don't know, _she replied. _Heck, I don't think he'd even believe us if we told him._

_I don't think there's any harm in telling him, but there's still the fact that he could very well be an enemy. We've had several of those occasions in the past._

There was a silence between them, and then Cynder thought again. _I'll t__ell him._

She turned back to Mitsurugi and said, "You probably won't believe me here, but...we're from another world."

Mitsurugi didn't seem surprised by this. "I've been considering that possibility since I laid eyes on you four," he said, surprising the dragons. "I've heard of several accounts of people from other worlds coming here in search of Soul Edge."

"You know about Soul Edge?" Spyro asked.

"Who hasn't? I was once searching for the sword myself, until i learned that the sword was inherently evil. I ceased my search immediately."

"We're looking for Soul Edge, as well," Spyro said. "We found a shard in our world, and we can't destroy it unless we find the rest."

"I've been part of a training settlement not far west of here, where warriors from all over the Multiverse come to brush up their skills with the sword, many of whom come here searching for Soul Edge." Mitsurugi said. "One particular fighter stands out above all the others i've trained. He and I parted ways just an hour before I spotted you."

"I take it, he's the one who cleaned up _those_ three over there?" Flame asked, motioning his head to the three corpses in the corner.

"Yes," the samurai said. "And rather effortlessly, i might add. I've never considered a sword and shield to be that good a combination, nor have i seen that much skill with such weapons!

"When we parted, he said he's searching for Soul Edge in order to destory it, just like you four. He may be able to help you; he wears a green tunic and hat, wields a blue sword and shield; you can't miss him a mile away. He called himself 'Link', whatever kind of a name that is. " And with that, Mitsurugi made to leave.

"You're not coming?" Spyro asked, rather wanting the samurai to come with.

"No, i've got to get back to Regulus, so I can get back to training the next sword-slinger looking to carve a reputation out of Soul Edge." He turned to leave and, before jumping off the platform, looked back at Spyro and said, "But, perhaps, se shall meet again, some time in the future, my friend."

"Until then, Mitsurugi." Spyro said, inclining his head. With a nod, the samurai hopped down from the platform, and disappeared into the sunset at a surprisingly fast run, Spyro looking on. "Until then..."

* * *

><p><strong>And, there's Mitsurugi. If you read the descriptions of the first two levels in Weapon Master mode, he's called 'Edgar', but I think Mitsurugi's better. <strong>

**I know, not very good on the action part, compared to others that i've read; as i said, I'm not exactly strong at fighting scenes. I'm trying!**

**Well, we'd better get on with the adventure. I've lost enough time as it is, so let us lose no more! ONWARD! (well, at least when i get the next chapter in. I've already got the whole story outlined, i just need to fill in the details as i type.)**

** See ya! **


	7. Chapter 6: Benetnasch

**Ok, here we go, next chapter. As you probably have already guessed, I will be following the storyline of the Weapon Master mode of Soul Calibur II as closely as i can, with a few personal twists. But, for the most part, If you've been through WM of SCII, and if you pay attention to the descriptions of certain levels, then you know pretty much what's going to happen. But enough yapping! Let's get to reading!**

* * *

><p>Chapter 6: Benetnasch<p>

Once Mitsurugi was out of sight, they decided to bury the bodies, which were still lying in the corner. Afterward, they gathered some loose boards from the rampart and built a campfire on the ground below the platform Spyro had fought Mitsurugi on.

They cooked some of the meat they had borrowed from the Warfang kitchens, and ate in silence. Flame practically inhaled his slice, making Ember turn her head in disgust ("What?" Flame said defensively. "I'm hungry!") and Cynder rolled her eyes.

After fifteen minutes, when they all finished eating, Flame broke the silence. "So, who do you think this "Link" guy is?"

The girls shrugged, and Spyro said, "Don't know...but, judging from how Mitsurugi described him, he's probably not a person you want to get on the bad side of."

"Well, we'd better get some sleep," Cynder said after a short silence. "We've got a long journey ahead of us." They all agreed.

Spyro and Cynder curled up next to each other, and Spyro draped his wing over the black dragoness like a blanket. Flame and Ember curled up likewise, and Sparx rest on Spyro's horn. With a few "good night"s, they were asleep...

* * *

><p><em>Spyro stood crouched on a burning plain, his wings badly torn, and an open wound on his left hip. Several meters behind him lay a human male, blonde hair, purple attire, red bandana around his neck, a rapier in its sheath at his hip, and a look of terror and confusion in his eyes. Standing on Spyro's left was another human, slightly shorter than the man on the ground, also blonde, wearing a green tunic and hat, brown snow boots, wielding a blue shield and a strange blue sword with the blade seemingly split down the middle. <em>

_And in front of them stood a skeletel creature covered entirely with flames. The infurno raised its sword, the eye on the blade giving them a look of pure malice. The beast roared as it swung the massive blade at Spyro..._

Spyro shot awake with a gasp and in a cold sweat. As his head shot up, Sparx was sent flying, and Spyro's wing shifted on Cynder's back, stirring her.

"Spyro...?" she groaned. "What is it?"

Spyro didn't respond right away. He looked around, forgetting for a second where he was. The rampart was bathed in faint twilight as the moon set behind the western horizon, the sun still hiding behind the eastern mountains.

"I..." he said. "Nothing...it was nothing."

Cynder nudged him with her shoulder. "C'mon, Spyro, don't shut me out. Let me help you. "What's wrong?"

"I said it was nothing!" he snapped angrily. An instant later, he didn't even know why he was so mad. Seeing Cynder's concerned look, he said, "Sorry, Cynder...I don't know why I snapped like that...?

Cynder glanced down at the shard in the purple dragon's paw. "I do." Before Spyro could react, she snatched the shard from his grasp. "It's the shard." she said before stowing it away in her satchel. "I don't think any one of us should hold it for longer than we need to."

* * *

><p>Once everyone was awake, and Sparx stopped complaining about being woken from a perfect dream, they left the rampart and flew eastward.<p>

They'd only covered a few miles when they came across a structure. Upon closer airborne examination, they saw it was an arena of sorts. A square platform stood in the middle of a small lake, surrounded by stone stands. Judging from the humans filing out of the srena, the previous match had just ended. The only one left inside was a man lying in the middle of the platform, apparently the loser of the fight.

"Spyro! Look!" Cynder called, pointing at something outside the entrance. Spyro smiled when he saw who she pointed at: the green tunic and hat of the one human he wanted to see right now.

"That's Link!" he shouted. Unfortunately, his cry didn't go unnoticed, as Link looked skyward for a second before taking off running as an alarming speed. It was all they could do to keep up with him! He didn't show signs of stopping, and ignored their plees for him to stop.

They'd put several miles behind them when they came across a large, bustling town, and Link disappeared among the crowd of townsfolk.

They were about to follow him when Spyro stopped in midair. "Wait, guys!"

"What?" Flame asked. "We know where he is! Now we just gotta get to him and talk!"

"I know, but look how he reacted when he saw us!" Spyro said. "It was like he'd never seen a dragon before! How do you think those other humans'll react?"

"We have no choice, Spyro!" Cynder countered. "We _need_ to talk to him, and if it means passing through towns, so be it."

Spyro still thought it was a bad idea. But he knew Cynder wasn't about to change her mind, so he gave in. They flew down to the road leading into the city. As Spyro looked around nervously, he saw a large forest on the northern side of the road, the trees rustling in the breeze. Further up, just outside the city gate, there was a sign that read:

"Welcome to  
>Bebetnasch"<p>

As they walked up to the gate, Spyro looked through and saw something he thought he'd never see in this world: Dragons!

Dragons and humans were walking up and down the streets, as though they were one people! there were venders on either side of the street, run by humans and dragons alike, selling food, weapons, clothing, and many things Spyro had no idea what they were.

"Wow!" Spyro gasped. "There _are_ dragons in this world!"

His exclaimation didn't go unnoticed, as another dragon about his age walked up to them. He was a red dragon with blue belly scales, spikes, and tail spade shaped like a flame. He had two short horns on his head, also blue, and fiery red eyes.

"Say, I don't recognize you lot, and I know pretty much everyone in town!" he said excitedly with a noticable accent. "I guess that makes me your official welcoming comity." He glanced from Flame to Spyro and to Cynder. When his eyes fell on Ember, however, his entire demeanor changed. "Well, hel-lo, what have we here?"

"Huh?" Ember jumped when the dragon addressed her. "Oh, um...I'm Ember."

"Well, Ember," he said in a flurtatious tone. He grasped Ember's paw gently, as though he were handling a dove. "My name is Blaze. Welcome to Benetnasch." And with that, he kissed her paw, making her blush.

"Hey!" Flame put himself between Blaze and Ember. "Watch who you're sweet-talkin'!"

"Flame!" Ember protested.

"No, it's alright," Blaze quickly said, sounding ashamed. "I'm sorry. It's just not every day i get to meet such a beautiful dragoness such as yourself, Ember." Next instant, he went back to the excited demeanor Spyro first felt from him. "Say! You fellas're new 'round here, so I guess I should show you around! No one knows this city better than me!" He was about to turn around when he caught himself. "Ah! Almost forgot! What're your names?"

"I'm Cynder," she said. "This is Sparx," ("Ok, for a sec, i thought you were gonna forget about me, _again!_" the dragonfly said. ) "You've already met Flame and Ember." Flame glared at Blaze and curled his upper lip, revealing his fangs, while Ember rolled her eyes at the firebreather's defensive attitude. "And this is Spyro," Cynder continued, motioning to the purple dragon, who nodded in turn.

Blaze's eyes widened when he took a second look at Spyro. He glanced from his eyes to his scales and back, mouthing something as though lost for words. "It...it c-can't be..." he stammered. "I-I've heard stories...A-a-are you really...t-the...the...?"

"The what?" Spyro asked, though anticipating the answer.

Blaze gulped and said so quietly Spyro almost didn't here him, "The Purple Dragon...?" Spyro nodded. Blaze was about to shout when Spyro grapped his snout, holding his mouth closed.

"Yes, I am the Purple Dragon," he whispered warningly. "But, please, I don't want to draw attention.

"Now, I'm going to let you go," he continued. _"Please,_ don't shout it out." After an asuring nod from the firebreather, Spyro released him.

After streatching his jaws, Blaze said, "Sorry, I just get real excited, real easily."

"Yeah, I can tell," Sparx said, making Spyro roll his eyes.

Blaze looked afronted. "Is he _always_ like this?" he asked the others.

Spyro nodded, and Cynder said, "It gets a little annoying, when he gets involved in a drawn-out conversation."

"Let me guess," Blaze said, sounding humorous. "He doesn't know when to shut up?" Everyone nodded, and Blaze chuckled in turn.

"Hey!" Sparx exclaimed. "I take that personally, ya know!"

"Sparx, that's enough!" Spyro said, pulling his adopted brother back with his wing.

(Sparx made some comments, which have been omited, that made Cynder give him a stirn look, but made everyone else laugh.)

After getting over the laughing fit they got from the last comments Sparx made , Blaze said, "Well, I guess i still owe you lot a tour of the city, right? Well, I'll just skip all the boring stuff and go straight to the main attraction!" Motioning for them to follow him, he took off running. They barely had time to register he had left before he disappeared into the crowd.

Cynder closed her eyes for a second. When they opened, the whites were blood red. She was using her Shadow Sight ability. After a few more seconds, she pointing straight ahead. "He went that way!" and they took off running.

When they finally found a plaza that wasn't crawling with market-goers, they were exhausted from dodging and weaving in and out of traffic. Blaze, who apparently hadn't even broken a sweat, walked up to them.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. Scale of one through ten, i'd give you each a three-point-five." he said. When they gave him cofused looks, he continued, "One thing you gotta know in the city: stamina is everything. You gotta be able to dash from one side of town to the other and back, and still have energy for more. The better items in the shops are always the first ones to be purchased. You're not quick, you're S.O.L." (to those who don't know, S.O.L. is 'So Outta Luck')

"Yeah, well it sure doesn't help that they're carrying those heavy bags," Sparx said, motioning to their satchels.

Blaze gave them a questioning look and said, "You lot going on a long trip or something?" Spyro nodded, still panting. Then, he noticed that Blaze was now wearing a suspicious look with an eyebrow raised. "Where are you from? cause with that much supplies packed, you're certainly not from this part of the world."

Spyro looked back at Cynder and opened the connection between their minds. _He's getting suspicious. __Do you think we should tell him?_

_I don't know, _Cynder said to him. _I think we should let him figure it out before we do._

_Good idea, just there's one thing we should be open of._

Once Spyro caught his breath, he turned back to Blaze and said, "We're on a journey to find Soul Edge."

Blaze burst out laughing. "Soul Edge! HA! Good one!" He continued this rant for five more minutes, before Spyro cleared his throat. When Blaze saw the serious look on his face, his laughter stopped instantly. "You're serious?"

Spyro nodded, and Cynder reached into her satchel and removed the shard of Soul Edge from it. "We found this in our country. It's a shard from Soul Edge."

Blaze stared in awe at the metal shard, eyes wide and mouth open. "So, _this _is a piece of Soul Edge..."

"Hold up, pal!" Sparx said, flying up to the dragon's face. "Don't get too googly-eyed about that thing, it's evil!"

"Yeah," Spyro said. "It radiates an aura of pure darkness. We need to find the rest of the shards and destroy them."

"ARE YOU _MAD!" _Blaze shouted.

_"Shh!"_ Spyro looked around, and was relieved that no one was looking.

"Are you mad!" Blaze repeated, in a hushed voice. "_Destroy _Soul Edge? Why not _use_ it?"

"It's too risky, Blaze." Spyro said.

"But, the _power!_ Soul Edge is the _ultimate_ weapon in the world! How could you pass that up!"

"By remembering what happened when Nightmare got his hands on the sword," Spyro said adamantly.

The last word seemed to hang in the air, and they were silent for the next five minutes. Cynder stowed the shard back in her satchel, shile Blaze shifted his paws uncomfortably.

Finally, Blaze broke the silence with a whisper. "I'd like to help out, but, since you're looking for Soul Edge, you already know that it's somewhere east of here."

"Yeah," Spyro said. "That much we already know."

Just then, there were excited shouts coming from a raised platform behind Blaze. They looked to find what looked like out-of-control mechanical puppets. The puppeteer was trying to tell everyone that everything was under control, but to no avail.

"Ah, the old geezer's puppets gone haywire again," Blaze said again, sounding bored. "That's the fifth time this month!"

"Think we should help him out?" Spyro suggested.

"I don't see why not..." Flame stopped short when the crowd's cheers grew louder, as a human hopped up onto the platform, and Spyro smiled when he saw who it was.

"It's Link!" he said.

"Wait, you know this bloke?" Blaze asked skeptically.

"Not really," Spyro said. "We need to know more about what we're up against, and got a recommentation for him from a samurai named Mitsurugi. We've been tailing Link since."

"And it looks like he's up there to stop those puppets!" Cynder motioned to the stage, and they saw Link drawing his sword and shield.

The puppeteer shouted up at Link, "Wait! Those are custom-made puppets from Merak! Please, don't wreck them!"

Link nodded an dturned his attention back to the puppets, who noticed that there was someone there to challenge them. They drew what looked like wooden swords, but Link had already attacked. He swung his sword so fast that the first puppet didn't even move before Link hit it with the backswing and doing a backflip off the puppet's face.

While the first puppet was stunned, the second charged at Link from behind, but Link slammed his shield into its head-like appendage, followed by a powerful combo attack, knocking the puppet on its back. The first puppet had recovered from Link's first onslaught and attacked, only for Link to kick it in the gut.

"Whoa!" Sparx exclaimed. "The green guy's got some moves!"

The puppets were on either side of Link, who was now standing in the very center of the stage. Both puppets charged simultaneously, but Link did something Spyro hadn't expected: he crouched and held his sword arm across his chest.

"What is he doing?" Spyro thought aloud.

Then, the blade of Link's sword glowed with an energy Spyro had never felt before. Then the energy turned from blue to red, and the energy output intensified. Just before the puppets attacked, Link performed a powerful spinning attack, releasing the energy in a wave. The puppets were thrown back an doff the stage, hitting the ground with two identical crashed, before ceasing to move, and the crowd erupted into cheers.


	8. Chapter 7: Pirates of Benetnasch

Chapter 7: Pirates of Benetnasch

Link climbed down from the stage and crouched by one of the puppets, where Spyro lost sight of him in the crowd now swarming around him. After exchanging a few words with the puppeteer, Link wormed his way out of the crowd. He began making his way to the market when he spotted Spyro and the others. Spyro saw two things in the human's azure eyes: curiosity and suspision.

Spyro reached out with his mind to the human, but the moment their minds came into contact, Link threw one thought at him, _I don't know what you want with me, but just leave me be! _before taking off running again.

"Hey! Wait!" Spyro took off after him, making sure to keep his eyes on the human so as to not lose him in the crowd.

"Spyro!" Cynder called after the purple dragon. She turned back to the others. "Blaze, thanks for the tour, but we have to go."

"Right!" Flame said, already starting after Spyro, and Ember followed closely behind.

"Bye!" Cynder called back to Blaze as she ran after Spyro, leaving Blaze thinking, _What just happened?_

Spyro chased Link all through the city until they reached the eastern side, a harbor loaded with trading ships. The dock that Link ran onto was empty except for a single rowboat. Link glanced around for a way out, and spotted the skiff, before turning back to Spyro, who had stopped on the opposite side of the dock. Link's eyes narrowed as if expecting a battle, and his hand reached for the sword on his back.

"Link, I don't want to fight!" Spyro said. "I just want to talk!"

"Not likely," Link retorted. He drew his sword and shield, and they stared at each other for a few seconds.

Cynder, Flame, and Ember ran up and stopped behind Spyro, staring from the purple dragon to the human.

"Spyro, what are you doing?" Cynder asked.

"Yeah," Flame continued. "I thought you said we needed to ask him about..."

Before he could finish, there was a _smack!_ and Flame crumpled, unconcious. Another blow landed, and Ember fell unconcious as well.

"Spyro!" he heard Cynder shout.

He turned around and shouted, "Cynder!" when he saw a group of humans with clubs standing over his friends, and one holding Cynder by the scruff of her neck, the blade of a curcved cutlass held to her throat, her eyes practically screaming with fear. "Let them go!" Spyro demanded, ready to fight.

"You're in no position to make demands, my young dragon friend," came a cold male voice. From among the group of sailors, obviously pirates, came a tall man with gold platelegs and bracers, a short cape blowing in the sea breeze, wearing a three-pointed hat and holding a longsword and an off-hand weapon that looked like a short sword, but it had a short tube at the cross-guard. His face was deathly pale, and his eyes were pupil-less, giving him the appearance of one long dead. The sight sent tremors down Spyro's spine.

"Who are you?" Spyro said, trying to hide his fear.

"You shall know me as Cervantes," the pirate answered, an evil smile on his lips. "Now, that will be the only question I will answer."

He gave a sharp whistle, and the man holding Cynder tossed her to Cervantes, who put his longsword up against her throat. "Now, I'll make this simple for you, purple one: Come with us peacefully, or watch your friends die."

Spyro opened his mouth to protest, when Cynder gave a whimper of pain, and a trickle of blood ran down her neck, as Cervantes applied pressure on his blade.

The pirate laughed. "You were saying?"

Spyro knew he didn't have any choice, and hung his head in defeat. "Alright. You win..."

Cervantes gave another evil laugh. "Smart move." He turned to his crew. "Get them onto the ship. Dragons won't sell cheap on the slave market, so we can expect a fortune for four..."

_Twang!_

Spyro felt something zip past his head, and then heard a shout of pain from Cervantes. He looked up to see Cynder scrambling away from the pirate, who was clutching his sword arm, an arrow protruding from his bicep.

Spyro turned around and saw Link holding a bow, drawn with another arrow ready.

Cervantes removed the arrow and looked past Spyro at Link, a look of rage obvious in his white eyes. "Who are you to interfere in our affairs!"

"Who are _you_ to take these dragons prisoner without any reason?" Link retorted, drawing his sword and shield.

_For now, we fight together,_ Spyro heard Link's voice in his head.

"Grrr...Secure those two!" Cervantes shouted to his crew. With a few affirmative shouts, they grabbed Flame and Ember, still unconcious, and tied them to a post on the dock, before drawing their cutlasses.

Cervantes turned back to Link, Spyro, and Cynder. The purple dragon took a step back as he saw the pirate's eyes, which were now glowing blood red. "Kill them!" the pirate shouted, and the others charged in, weapons ready.

Cynder raised up and spun on the tip of her tail. The cyclone blew any pirate within its radius back. Some landed on their backs on the dock, other unlucky ones were thrown off and into the water. The pirates grew cautious, and formed a circle around Link and the dragons. No one dared go further than that.

Then, three people stepped forward: A young man wearing only pants, shoes, and a red bandana around his neck, with long blonde hair, and wielding two lengths of wood connected by a short chain, which Spyro remembered Ignitus briefly describing as being called "nunchaka";  
>a female with blue attire, white gloves, and high heels, with ghostly white hair, and wielding a short sword, with a rose engraved on the crossguard;<br>and a creature covered from head to toe with wrappings. Its eyes and mouth were covered, making it appear blind, (but Spyro had a feeling it could see just fine), and wielding strange, claw-like weapons, one in each hand. It seemed like a serpent with legs, as far as Spyro could tell, and seemed to walk in place. Its only speech was with breaths and hisses.

"Alright, one for each of us," Link observed. Instantly, the enemies charged in.

Link engaged the man with the nunchaka, while Cynder took on the girl, and Spyro battled the hissing creature.

Link was hard-pressed to keep track of his opponent, as the man attacked with blinding speed. Link was forced to stay on defensive to avoid the nunchaka, blocking with his shield and jumping when attacked low.

Cynder wasn't having much luck either; the sword that the woman she had engaged wasn't an ordinary blade: it extended into a chained blade, connected by a thin stream of energy, giving her incredible reach. The sword seemed to be alive, as it twisted and turned without any visible force pushing it. Multiple times, Cynder was forced to attack the weapon itself so prevent it from wrapping itself around her and cutting her to ribbons.

Spyro was completely confused by his opponent's fighting style; he found that it was unbelievably flexible and agile, and the claws had torn several holes in his wings, which were doing no good for blocking, so he was forced to dodge its attacks. The creature moved quickle, and the claws packed a punch when Spyro failed to dodge a blow to his side, and he was thrown just short of the circle of men. While he was recovering, a few of them grabbed him and chucked him back into the ring, landing ungracefully by the creature once more.

Eventually, Spyro managed to land a couterattack on it, and brought it down with a combo attack, landing every blow. When the creature stood up again, Spyro wasted no time in unleashing a wave of fire, disintegrating it in seconds.

At the same time, Link saw a break in the nunchaka man's attack pattern, and thrust his sword directly into the chain connecting to two bars of wood. The chain broke under the force of the impact, and the sword continued through into the man's chest. Link removed the blade, and his foe crumpled to the wooden ground silently.

Cynder managed to dodge one last attack from the woman with the chained blade and dove into her shadow, confusing the woman. Cynder stayed in the shadow for a few seconds, while the woman looked frantically for the black dragoness, before jumping out directly benieth her. The woman was thrown into the air, and Cynder threw everything she had into the air combo, leaving long gashes in the woman's arms, back, and face. Then she grabbed the limp blade in her mouth and ripped it out of the woman's hand...while still in the air!

When they landed, the woman was still. Cynder held the sword's handle with her paws and pulled the third link from the tip off. When the energy stream was severed, the entire connection vanished, and the blade links fell to the ground with a series of metalic _dings_.

Link, Spyro, and Cynder stood in the center of the circle of pirates, who all stood awe-struck at their battle prowess.

"Anyone else care for some?" Link shouted at the men, sword and shield ready for more.

Suddenly, the entire harbor darkened, as though the sun was blotted out. Then came an enraged roar, and Cervantes jumped over his crew and into the ring.

As soon as the pirate landed, Spyro felt a strange power...coming from Cervantes' sword. When he got into his battle stance, Spyro noticed that the blade was engraved with an all-too-familiar sign: an eye!

Cervantes' sword was Soul Edge...but then, it wasn't as powerful as Spyro expected it to be; it felt rather diminished, to be honest with himself. Still, it was powerful, and shouldn't be ignored.

Cervantes had the first move, and charged forward in an attack similar to Spyro's Comet Dash, both swords pointed forward, spinning the whole way; they were even covered in flames for the duration of the attack! Spyro and Cynder barely had time to dodge, rolling in opposite directions of eachother, but Link wasn't quite fast enough, and held up his shield. Despite that, he was still sent spinning twenty feet back, as though the attack had ignored his shield entirely.

Spyro and Cynder attacked the pirate from either side, landing a blow here and there, but most of their attacks either missed, or were blocked altogether, and Cervantes did a spin attack to halt their barrage. He rounded on Cynder, swinging his sword with incredible speed and precision, slipping past Cynder's every defensive motion and negating her attempts to dodge.

Spyro had to jump on the pirate's back and bite down on the back of his neck to give Cynder a chance to get away. Cervantes reached over his shoulder and grabbed Spyro's upper jaw, forcing him to release the pirate from his deathgrip. After yanking Spyro off, Cervantes drop-kicked him halfway across the dock, where he lay dazed from landing on the small of his back.

Link stood up and charged in, sword outstretched. Cervantes didn't see it coming, and was stabbed clean through the stomach. However, he wasn't phased by the blow. He merely grabbed the sword by the hilt, Link still gripping it, pulled it out, and hooked his own sword behind Link's knees. He performed a swirling motion with the blade, spinning Link by his legs along with it, before bringing him down spine-first onto his armor-covered knee, knocking Link's wind out and leaving him gasping for air as he rolled onto the ground.

Cervantes gave an evil laugh. "It's too easy! How could you fools have lost to this bunch of weaklings?" he screamed at his crew, whe cringed back in fear at his voice.

Spyro took advantage of the pirate's slip in concentration and rose up, his body glowing with purple energy. By the time Cervantes realized what he was doing, it was too late. Spyro's eyes glowed with Convexity, and he unleashed a wave of its energy, knocking Cervantes on his back, his hat blown off and incinerated, leaving most of his crew a smoldering heap of corpses, and those who survived thrown back into the city or a good twenty meeters out into the harbor! Only Cynder, Flame, Ember, and Link were unaffected by the attack, but Flame and Ember had finally come around, and the ropes were disintegrated.

Cervantes staggered to his feet. With his hat off, it revealed clowdy grey hair in a lond ponytail behind his head; his cape had also burned off, and the armor on his shins and forearms were steaming from the power of Spyro's Convexity wave.

"That power..." the pirate gasped. "What...is it?"

Spyro shook his head. "One that you'll never know beyond this moment!" he yelled, before firing a Convexity beam. The attack hit the pirate square in the chest and exited out his back, him screaming in agony the whole while. When Spyro ceased the attack, Cervantes fell to the ground, dead and defeated.

Flame and Ember stood up, still dizzy from the blows they took. They stared around at the half-destroyed dock, eyes wide with shock.

"What the...?" Flame gasped, before Ember let out an ear-piercing scream of fright as she saw Cervantes' body and the foot-wide gaping hole in the pirate's chest.

"Whoa!" Flame exclaimed. "What happened to _him?"_

Cynder walked up. "I think we all know what happened," she said, turning her head toward Spyro, who was crouched on the dock, panting.

Once he cought his breath, he glanced around and saw Link lying on the ground, gasping for air from the back-breaker he took from Cervantes.

Spyro walked up cautiously to the human. "You alright?" he asked.

After a few seconds, Link sat up. "I've had worse," he said. "What about you and the female?"

"Same," Spyro said, glancing worriedly at Cynder. Ember was healing her wounds, while using her wing to shield her eyes from the pirate's mangled corpse.

"So..." Spyro turned back to Link. "Why the sudden change of heart? Why help us?"

Link was silent for a minute. "At first, I thought you were trying to kill me. But, then I saw what you did for your friends." He paused. "You were willing to do anything to keep them out of harm's way. I knew right away that you had a pure heart."

Spyro smiled, before extending a paw and helping Link to his feet. Then they walked over to Cynder, Flame, and Ember.

"You guys alright?" Spyro asked.

"Yeah, we're fine," Cynder said.

"Well, if you don't count the throbbing in the back of my head, I'm good," Flame joked.

Then, Spyro noticed that they were one head short. "Hey, Sparx!" he shouted. "You can come out now!"

The dragonfly poked his head out from behind a fire lantern, and flew out to his foster brother. "Phew! Thought the fight'd _never_ end!" He looked down at Cervantes' body and cringed. "What happened to _him?"_ he asked, echoing Flame's earlier question. When Spyro raised his wing with a weak smile, Sparx continued, "Wow! Overkill, much?"

When Spyro took a second look at Cervantes' body, he felt the evil presence of his sword, which was still clasped in the pirate's right hand. The purple dragon approached and nudged the blade with his paw. As if in responce, several cracks appeared in the blade, and it then there was a flash of red light, forcing Spyro to cover his eyes with his wing. When the light died down, Spyro removed his wing and saw a regular longsword with gold-inlaid crossguard and pommel, and leather grip on the hilt. Next to the sword were several metal shards, identical to the one they found in the Dragon Realms.

"So, it wasn't Soul Edge itself," Spyro thought out loud as he picked up the shards. "It was just a regular sword imbued with the power of a handful of shards."

Before anything else could be said, the pirates who survived Spyro's fury wave started pouring back onto the dock, screaming in rage when they saw their captain's body.

Spyro stuffed the shards into his satchel, looked back at his foew, and stared in fear when he saw that their numbers had only seemed to grow, even after killing so many. "We'll never make it out of this!"

Link stared back at the edge of the dock, and smiled when he spotted the rowboat. "Yes, there is." He shouldered his shield and pulled a large, round object out of his pouch. He struck a small string on the top with his sword, and it caught fire, sending sparks everywhere. He threw it into the croud of pirates, and in a few seconds, it exploded. In the confusion the bomb thus created, Link ran back to the rowboat and untied it from the dock. "Come on! It's our only chance!"

Flame and Ember wasted no time jumping into the boat, but it left no room for Spyro and Cynder. The pirates had recovered from the bomb blast, and were now fast approaching. Spyro and Cynder instead jumped into the air, grabbing the rope that had tied the boat to the dock. With Link holding fast the other end, the dragons flew out into the harbor, towing the skiff behind them fast enough to make the water part in its wake, leaving the pirates cursing them from the dock.

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><p><strong>And, there's my little twist of the Benenasch Harbor battle. Yes, I skipped the part where Leon catches up with you and challenges you again, but don't worry, I won't leave him out of the story entirely. He'll show up later.<strong>

**Anyway, thank you for reading thus far. I appreciate reviews, good and bad. I just want to know what you guys think. See you later! Next stop: Mizar!**


	9. Chapter 8: Trust and Friendship

**Ok, now the group heads to Mizar. But there's still two things to take care of first: _getting_ there, and if they can trust Link (Well, we all know they can, but the dragons don't, so let's remedy that, shall we?)**

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><p>Chapter 8: Trust and Friendship<p>

Spyro and Cynder towed the dinghy for miles out onto the lake. When Benetnasch was out of sight, they stopped and landed in the water, as Flame, Ember, and Link still took up most of the room in the boat. So, Spyro and Cynder desided to simply float alongside them for the remainder of the trip.

"So, what happened while Flame and I were out?" Ember asked.

Spyro, Cynder, and Link explained the fight they'd had on the dock, and about Cervantes. When Spyro mentioned the pirate's sword, he remembered what he'd put into his satchel. He slung it over the side of the boat and removed a small handful of the metal shards.

"They're more shards of Soul Edge," the purple dragon said uneasily. "I can feel it."

"How do you know about Soul Edge?" Link suddenly asked.

Spyro eyed the human cautiously, still on the edge of the boat. "We..." he stopped when Cynder cleared her throat.

_Don't tell him yet,_ she said in her mind. _Make sure we can trust him!_

Spyro looked back at Cynder. _I could probe his mind._

_That's not exactly what I had in mind, _the black dragoness replied. _But, it may be our only option. _

_I can't test him out here, not when I have to concentrate on staying afloat._

__Then it'll have to wait until we get to shore. __Cynder cut the connection.

Spyro hesitated, then looked Link straight in the eye. "I'm sorry, Link," he said. "but we have to make sure we can trust you."

The human didn't seem surprised, and said, "Understandable, considering what I ended up putting you guys through in Benetnasch."

"We can't do it out here," Spyro continued. "So don't expect any answers until we get to shore." He hadn't meant for it to sound like a threat, but was surprised at Link's calm response: a simple nod.

Link reached down, grabbed the oars, and started rowing. They continued eastward without another word, Spyro and Cynder swimming alongside. Ember managed to get sick twice along the way. After what seemed like hours, they finally reached the shoreline. Before the boat even touched the beach, Flame and Ember leaped out and glided to land, Ember still a little and Cynder shook themselves dry, and Link climbed onto the beach, the boat resting on the beach.

Spyro turned to Link. "Alright. In order to make certain that we can trust you, I need to get into your mind." When Link's expression turned to one of worry, Spyro continued, "I know it isn't going to be pleasent, for either of us, but the only way I can know for sure is if I can look directly at your thoughts.

"I'll try to stay away from anything personal, but I need you to let down your defenses. That way, I know you're not hiding anything."

Link hesitated, then nodded. "I understand."

Spyro readied himself. "Be warned: If I find any barriers, I must assume you're hiding something important." he said. "But i'm primarily looking for your reasons for searching for Soul Edge." He paused long enough for Link to nod, and reached out for the human's mind.

At first, he encountered resistance, but it instantly lowered. Once he was inside Link's mind, he heard the human's voice: _Sorry, it was a reflex._

Spyro encountered no further barriers, and searched through the vast amount of information in Link's mind. It turned out that he began his life as a farmer, but his first experience of darkness drew him into a quest that forced him to actually _use_ darkness. There were points where Link wasn't human, but a wolf! Those were mostly in areas covered in Twilight, as the darkness he fought was called.

Eventually, Link came to a confrontation against the man who was behind all the troubles of his world: Ganondorf, a dark-skinned man of immense size, towering over Link by a good two feet! From the battle, Spyro observed that Ganondorf was very powerful, wielding the very power of darkness, as well as that of Twilight.

A year after defeating the Dark Lord, Link learned about Soul Edge, and the gods of his world, which was called Hyrule, had given him the power to travel from one world to another, in order to destroy the demon sword. Link was a Planeswalker!

Spyro retreated back into his own mind and stared up at Link with almost nothing but respect in his eyes. No one spoke for a few seconds.

"Well?" Sparx broke the silence. "Is he good, or what?"

Spyro nodded. "More than good," he said with a smile. "From what I just saw, I'd trust him with my life."

Cynder let out a sigh of relief. Ember smiled and practically hopped on the tips of her claws over to Link before introducing herself, in almost the same way she had to Spyro when they first met: in a bright and ever so slightly flurtatious tone. Link caught the tone and stepped back a pace, blushing slightly, but Spyro noticed no trace of a smile on his face; only a look of confusion.

Flame cleared his throat and flicked his tail in front of Ember's face. She turned and saw his face, full of annoyance at her behavior. Spyro couldn't help but roll his eyes.

When Link looked to Spyro, the purple dragon explained that they were boyfriend and girlfriend. Ember doesn't flurt with _everyone_, but her appearence makes her difficult for other male dragons _not_ to flurt with _her. _

"Understandable," Link said. "I mean, it's not every day you get to meet a _pink_ dragoness." Ember's cheek scales turned red, and Flame gave a barely audible snarl.

"Also," the human continued. "While you were looking in my mind, I couldn't help but glance at the thoughts that were going on in the front of _your_ mind as well."

Spyro's heart almost stopped. "W-what did you see?" he asked, cursing himself for letting his guard down so easily. If Link was an enemy, Spyro wouldn't have been able to defend himself from a mental assault.

"I saw a city...full of dragons," Everyone stared at him. "...a metal shard, one of Soul Edge, and...an enormous dragon with dark purple scales and yellow eyes...full of hate..."

"Malefor..." Spyro whispered. He and Cynder shuddered at the mention of the name, recalling their last encounter with the Dark Master.

Link seemed to have heard them, and asked, "Who's Malefor?"

Spyro and Cynder exchanged glances. "I think it'd be easier to show you," the purple dragon said before reaching out to Link's mind once again. Once they were in contact, Spyro revealed his memories of his and Cynder's last adventure, from when he learned he was a dragon, to Cynder's rescue, to his encounter with Gaul, all the way up to their fight with the Dark Master, during which Spyro's fear was obvious. Lastly, Spyro revealed exactly when they found the first shard of Soul Edge, and their first few encounters in this world. Link was particularly interested in their fight with Mitsurugi. The transition took only a few minutes, but left them both exhausted.

"Whoa..." Link managed to say. In a few minutes, they both caught their breath.

"Yeah," Spyro replied.

"You guys have really been through a lot...Even my journeys in Hyrule seem like nothing, compared to your adventure..."

A silence fell on them like a thick wool blanket. Even Sparx was quiet, save for the fluttering of his wings. No one spoke, until the sun finally set. By then, Spyro suggested that they set up camp. They still had some leftover firewood in their satchels, and Link managed to kill an enormous boar while hunting, which he shared with them, saving their borrowed meat. Once their stomachs were full, they went to bed.

Spyro was still restless, and couldn't find sleep. Roughly an hour into the night, he heard the faint sound of music in the camp. He looked around, and found Link sitting with his back to the purple dragon and his legs crossed, holding an instrument Spyro wasn't familiar with. It was an oval shape, with a long mouthpiece. It was blue with a silver ring where the mouthpiece began, and seemed to glow with a mystical light. The song Link was playing was almost entrancing, each note resonating with a strange power. Just listening to it almost made Spyro want to fall asleep on the spot, but he ignored the urge.

Spyro stood up, making sure not to wake Cynder, and slowly moved over to Link. As he drew nearer, the song had a deeper effect on him, and he thought of Ignitus. A single tear rolled off Spyro's snout and landed on the sand between Spyro's forepaws. The moment it landed, the music ceased. Spyro froze on the spot.

"How long have you been listening, Spyro?" Link said, his back still to the purple dragon.

"Uh...about five minutes." he paused. "That was a beautiful song, Link."

Link nodded in acknowledgment. "I learned it when I was about 12, when I first met Princess Zelda." They were silent for a time, with only the sound of Flame and Sparx's snoring to keep them company.

Spyro walked up next to Link and sat on his haunches. "What kind of instrument is that?" he said.

Link held it up. "It's an ocarina. It's similar to a flute, with obvious differences." He paused. "I'm sure you've already seen the faint glow this one gives off." Spyro nodded. "It's called the Ocarina of Time, the hidden treasure of the Royal Family of Hyrule."

"That's how you were able to get the Master Sword," Spyro said, remembering one of Link's memories of a place called the Temple of Time.

"And it's been one of my only companions ever since."

"...What about your Twili friend, Midna?"

Link lowered his gaze until he stared at the sand, eyes filled with sadness. "When she left me seven years ago, I looked all over Hyrule for her, and even beyond the borders of the country..." He paused, and a single tear fell from of his eye. "I...I couldn't find her." He then burried his face in his knees, obviously struggling to keep himself from sobbing.

Spyro sensed the sorrow that radiated from Link as the words left his mouth, and draped a wing over his shoulder. Link looked up, and their eyes met; Link's were full of tears.

"You can't give up hope." Spyro said encouragingly. "I'm sure you'll get to see her agoin."

Instantly, Link smiled and thanked him before putting his arm over Spyro's shoulders, and they turned their gaze to the stars.

Neither of them noticed Cynder with her head up, smiling at their backs. After a few minutes, she stood up and moved over to Spyro's side, startling him and Link.

"How much of that did you hear?" Link asked, his cheeks red.

They only continued to look at the stars, and eventually fell asleep right there, Spyro and Cynder on either side of Link, their wings draped over the human like a blanket...

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><p><strong>So, there you have it! Link is now an official part of Spyro's party. You've probably guessed, I'm using the Link from Twilight Princess, but I threw in the Ocarina of Time just to add the musical element that LoZ:TP completely left out.<strong>

**I think it might be a little too early for an emotional scene between Link and the dragons, but I couldn't think of anywhere else it would fit in, so I put it here.**

**Thanks for sticking with me so far! Review, please! I'd fully appreciate it! **


	10. Chapter 9: Living Nightmare

Chapter 9: Living Nightmare

Spyro woke the next morning fully rested. As he looked around, he noticed Cynder, Flame, Ember, and even Sparx already awake, and Link just getting up himself. Wondering how long he's been asleep, he looked up at the sky, but found the sun still rising above the horizon.

"Hey, look who finally desided to wake up!" Sparx exclaimed as he flew down from where he hovered by Cynder. "We've been waiting for ages!"

"Seriously, Sparx?" Cynder said, walking up to them. "It's only been half an hour, and I already told you he had a late night." Sparx didn't argue, although he obviously wanted to. They all had breakfast peacefully, and then prepared for travel.

Once they were ready, Spyro looked to Link. "Ok, so where to?" They all looked at him with confusion. "Link's been here longer than us, so he knows the Plane better."

"For the most part," was Link's response, and he pulled a scroll out of his bag and unrulled it. It was a map of the world. A clear heading at the top said "The Soul Void." The western half of the map showed green fields, forests, and life, while at the very eastern edge was a brown land, similar to the shadowlands in the Dragon Realms.

"I got this map from one of the veterans at Regulus," Link continued, pointing to a dot labled thus. "We're here," he pointed to a spot on the eastern edge of a blue space representing Lake Mizar, as it was labled. "The closest town is Mizar, just to the east, up the river here," he pointed again.

"Do you know anything about where the rest of Soul Edge might be?" Spyro asked.

"Only that it's somewhere to the east, but my guess is that it'd be somewhere in here," he pointed at a lable over the blackened land on the eastern edge of the map. "...in the baren land of Antares."

"So, that's where we gotta go," Flame said in a complaining tone. "To a baren wasteland, with nothing green anywhere, and probably a whole bunch of evil creatures who'll want to skin us alive!"

"Quit complaining, Flame," Cynder said. "It's your fault you're here, anyway."

"Yeah," Ember added. "Sheesh! You sound like Sparx!" ("Hey!" the dragonfly said.)

"Yeah, yeah, yeah..." Flame ended the conversation there.

"So, yeah," Link said. "That's where I _believe_ we need to go. However, there are plenty of towns between here and there, so we may learn otherwise. If we don't, then we head into Antares. Agreed?"

"Agreed," They all said simultaneously, and Link rolled up the map and returned it to his bag. And with that, they were off.

They'd barely traveled for an hour when Spyro caught a strange scent in the air. "Wait!" he said to the others, stopping them in their tracks. He sniffed and tasted the took him a few seconds to decipher it, but once he had, he tensed up.

"What is it, Spyro?" Cynder asked, just as tence.

"Blood."

Link looked around and pointed: a piller of black smoke rose up a few miles off the road. Just then, a scream rent the air, coming from the same direction.

"Whoever it is, they're in trouble!" Flame said, his mouth curled into a snarl. And they all rushed toward the smoke.

Sparx was a few paces behind. "Oh, how do I keep getting into these messes?" he complained.

As they ran, Spyro caught sight of a burning village at the bottom of the pillar of smoke. As they neared it, the scent of blood grew stronger, and a flicker of fear appeared in Spyro's mind. He brushed the thought aside. The people in the village need their help.

They crossed a bridge and passed under an arch, and stopped dead, appauled by the sight before them: Bodies were strewn everywhere, both adults and children; the ground was stained red, blood running almost a half inch deep on Spyro's paws; the houses were all burning if not leveled.

Another terrified scream drew their attention, and they saw three villagers some dozen meters away, two men and a woman, on their knees, pleading with another figure clad in azure armor from head to toe, the helm with long red fur extending down to the figure's lower back, holding an enormous sword in its left hand, while its right looked completely unnatural: It was a fleshy brown with only three fingers, giving it the appearance of a demon's arm. Spyro thought he recognized the figure from somewhere, but it escaped him.

After shaking its head, the figure raised its blade and swung horizontally, level with the three villagers' necks. There were three short audible sounds of metal slicing flesh, and the villagers fell over, beheaded by a single stroke of the giant sword.

The figure stretched out its demonic arm and opened the hand. Seemingly in responce, the dead villagers' bodies glowed blue, and three azure orbs rose out of their chests and into the outstretched hand. The orbs dissolved, and energy crackled up the arm, across the figure's chest, down the other arm, and into the sword, which was angled so that the flat of the blade faced them, revealing an open, blinking eye. Something clicked in Spyro's mind, and fear washed over him as he realized who he was looking at.

It was the dark knight of the legends: Nightmare!

No sooner had the thought formed in his head than another dark energy radiated from his satchel as the pulsing of the multitude of dark shards within increased. Nightmare turned his gaze upon Link and the dragons, suddenly noticing their presence, revealing glowing orange eyes behind the visor of the helm. A voice rang across the village-although his helm his his mouth, the voice was immistakable Nightmare's.

"You." The demon-knight's voice was deep, warped, and commanding, sending shivers down all their spines, and Spyro was reminded of a certain dark dragon. "You possess shards of Soul Edge. You would be wise to hand them over. This is your one and only warning!"

Everyone took a step back, but none retreated any further. Link was the first to talk.

"And how would you know if we had any?" he shouted, masking his fear with utmost ease.

"Do not think to decieve me," Nightmare said, taking a step toward them, his armor clattering. "I recognize Soul Edge's aura coming from the Purple one's bag. Now I say again: Hand over the shards if you wish to live!"

"And who are you to challenge us upon first sight?" Link said, drawing his sword and shield.

"You are a fool if you hope to resist me, for it is Nightmare, Dark Knight of Soul Edge, before whom you stand!" He shifted his blade, holding it on his left side, both hands on the hilt. "Your warning is up, and your souls will be mine!"

They all go into battle positions. They had Nightmare outnumbered, but Spyro was still fearful, as the dark knight wielded Soul Edge, the very weapon that had almost destroyed many a world in the past, and it had just absorbed dozens of additional souls, making it even more dangerous. If they were to defeat him, it wouldn't be anywhere near easy.

Flame charged in with a fierce battle roar without hesitation. Spyro shouted for him to stay back, but his words fell on deaf ears, and Flame continued forward. With only ten yards between them, Flame leaped at the azure knight. With an audible chuckle, Nightmare swung Soul Edge just as Flame was within reach, catching him with the flat of the blade. With a grunt of pain, Flame was thrown across the village ruins, crashing into a ruined house, which then collapsed on top of him.

Nightmare now stood holding Soul Edge in his demon hand, with his left side in front. The attack hadn't even taken anything out of him; he'd swung his weapon with as little effort as is he wielded a small stick.

Spyro shook the thought out of his head and focused on the best way to defeat him.

"Is that the best you can do?" Nightmare laughed. "I know you dragons are stronger than that!"

"How are we supposed to beat this guy?" Cynder said.

"Attack him at the same time!" Spyro and Link said at the same time. At that moment, they all charged in.

Nightmare had obviously expected this, and dodged to the side and performed a spin attack similar to Link's, just without the energy wave that followed. Spyro barely dodged it in midair, as did Cynder. Link blocked the attack with his shield, but was thrown back. Ember wasn't as fortunate, and was hit with the full force of the sword. A deep gash appeared in her left flank, and she was thrown back as well.

Nightmare gave another taunting laugh. "At least make it a challenge for me!" he shouted.

As if in responce, Link had run back up and attacked. The Master Sword buzzed through the air with a sound similar to Sparx's wings, before striking, cutting clean through the armor on Nightmare's left arm, but stopping dead as the sword imbedded itself in his flesh. The Dark Knight back-handed Link with his demon hand, sending him and the holy sword flying off to where Ember lay wounded.

Taking advantage of the distraction, Spyro and Cynder jumped up behind him and let loose two furious, identical combo attacks, causing him to stagger forward, before turning to them.

"Now _that's_ more like it!" Nightmare said before swinging Soul Edge once again, Cynder jumped, but Spyro had to block with his wings. They dulled the attack, but he was still forced backward a few paces.

As Cynder landed again, Nightmare swung the enormous sword again. This time Cynder couldn't react, and she was thrown backward in a similar manner as Ember, with a similar wound on her right side, stretching from her hip to her shoulder.

"Cynder!" Spyro shouted. He started over to her, but was stopped when Soul Edge came down mear inches from the tip of his muzzle, the blade almost a foot deep in the ground. Nightmare pulled it out with a lazy tug before slamming the flat of the blade down on Spyro's back. His vision flashed red and green from the pain, and we hit the ground flat on his stomach, forcing the air out of his lungs.

As the pressure from Soul Edge ceased, Spyro tried to fill his lungs again, but was picked up by the scruff of his neck, thrown upward, and caught in midair, where Nightmare held his throat with his demon arm.

Nightmare chuckled. "You fools. You can't hope to match me. Not now, and certainly not when I find Soul Edge!"

Spyro was confused. "Why are you looking for Soul Edge when it's right there in your hand?" he managed to say through a constricted throat. Nightmare increased the pressure on Spyro's neck, making him gag.

"This isn't Soul Edge. Rather, it is multiple shards fused into my own weapon. And I know you hold more shards!" he shouted. There was a flash, and Spyro felt a massive drop in his remaining strength. The last thing he knew was him being slammed into the ground, the shards flying out of his satchel, and Cynder screaming his name...

* * *

><p>Pain. That was the first thing that Spyro felt as he returned to conciousness, lying on his left side. His head throbbed relentlessly, and his side pained like a knife had cut him open. As he opened his eyes, he became aware of a pink figure standing over him. As his eyes adjusted to the light of a crackling fire not far from where he lay, he recognized the figure as Ember, her paws over his wound. Her eyes were closed, though the ruby on her necklace was glowing, and a feint green glow shown behind her eyelids.<p>

He tried to move, but a bolt of pain shot up his side, and he grunted as he fell back down. Startled, Ember said, "Hey! Stay down, Spyro."

"What...what happened?" Spyro tried to look around, but someone held his head down. He angled his eyes to find Cynder staring at him with worry permeating every corner of her eyes. "Is everyone alright?"

"Yeah, we're fine," Flame's voice rang out from behind Ember. "It's you we're worried about!"

"Spyro, this wound in your side is huge. I need to close it now, or it'll get infected for sure," Ember said bluntly, more resolve in her voice than Spyro had ever heard. Knowing Ember wouldn't let him up until he'd been treated, he relaxed, and Ember went back to healing him.

As the minutes passed by, Spyro's wound pained him less and less, until it mearly itched. By then, Ember had removed her paws from his side and her necklace had stopped glowing, as did her eyes. When she looked at him again, he noticed she looked utterly exhausted. The energy required to heal him must have taken a lot out of her. As Cynder released his head, Spyro glanced down at his side, which was now spotless, save for the lines of dried blood running down to his stomach. Nothing a quick rinse in a river couldn't erase.

Then he looked around to notice that they were no longer in the destroyed village, but in a clearing in a dense forest. _They must've gone here for the cover,_ he thought. He was about to ask exactly where they were when Link emerged from behind a wall of evergreen trees, two deer slung over his shoulder, and bow in hand.

"The forest is clear of enemies, and I brought some food," he said as he dumped the two bucks by the campfire. He then pulled a hunting knife out of his boot and began skinning the deer to prepare for cooking. He paused in the middle of his work and glanced up at Spyro. "Good, you're awake. I thought it'd take me shooding you in the tail with an arrow to wake you."

Spyro rubbed his still sore limbs with his forepaw. "How long have I been out?" he asked.

"A whole day," Cynder replied, walking up to him and nuzzling him with her snout. "You had me scared half to death, Spyro."

Then he remembered exactly what happened before he went out. "What happened to Nightmare?" he asked. "Did you guys beat him?"

Link's knife stopped instantly, and he hung his head. "No..." he whispered. "After he threw you to the ground, he gathered the shards that fell out of your bag, and combined them with his sword...then gave you that wound in your side for good measure."

Now it was Spyro's turn to hand his head. Now Nightmare's power would only grow stronger. If he manages to find the last fraction of Soul Edge before they did, then no one could stop him.

"He could've killed all of us," Link continued. "But he let us go, saying he'd give us the rest of our lives to savor over our defeat." Link scoffed. "Like we need advice from one such as _him_." And he resumed his task of skinning the bucks.

From there, Spyro resolved to lay down, and Cynder followed his example. When Link was finished skinning and preparing the meat, they had a decent meal, although Spyro hardly touched his food. He was too absorbed in his thoughts even to notice his stomach grumbling with every passing second. One of the few enemies he had hoped to never have to face at all was now roaming freely in the Soul Void, and he was all but powerless against him.

Cynder must have heard his thoughts, as she draped a wing over him for comfort. "Hey," she said soothingly. "It wasn't your fault. None of us knew he'd gotten that strong."

"Yeah," Link said after swallowing a rather stubborn chuck of meat. "We just underestimated him, that's all."

Spyro nodded his agreement. As if in response, his previous sense of helplessness vanished, replaced by an emotion Spyro felt every time he was confronted by a seemingly impossable obstical: determination.

"And it won't happen again," he said audible, his voice now filled with confidence. The others paused for a second, startled by his sudden vigor. The smell of the spices Link put on it had finally gotten to him, and he couldn't resist it any longer, and he began tearing at his meal, savoring every bite with a hunger usually reserved for the starving. Then again, he _was_ starving.

"Mm-hmm, got that right," Flame said with his mouth full. Spyro refrained from rolling his eyes, but couldn't stop himself chuckling. None of them did, and in a split second, the clearing was echoing with the sound of their laughter.

When they finished the two deer, Flame having eaten more than anyone, they hit the sack. Spyro and Cynder slept cuddled up next to each other, as did Flame and Ember. Link had taken up the first watch, and Spyro was asleep within seconds, his dreams that of him destroying Soul Edge once and for all. When they woke the next morning, they resumed their journey to the east, prepared for anything they might encounter...

* * *

><p><strong>And there's Nightmare. He will be showing up later on, that much should be obvious. To those of you who are wondering: no, Malefor will not be the main antagonist in this story. But, don't worry, I already have a sequal planned out. Anyway...<strong>**Now the group heads east to Mizar. **

**Hope you enjoyed the chapter. I enjoy reviews, positive and negative. I should have the next chapter in soon. **

**See ya!**


	11. Chapter 10: Mizar

**And here we are. Next stop: Mizar!**

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><p>Chapter 10: Mizar<p>

"From what I hear, the gate's guarded by a skilled female warrior," the man said.

They had entered Mizar just the previous day, and they had started asking around about Soul Edge, with little success at first. But then they came across this man, who was all too happy to give them the information they needed.

He told them that Soul Edge was indeed in the cursed land of Antares. But in order to protect the demon sword from those with evil hearts, the ancient ones had built three gates infused with the power of the spirit sword, Soul Calibur, to bar the way. The gates were guarded by the most skilled warriors of pure hearts. And, according to this man, the current guardian was a girl. Link had a hard time believing him.

"If you don't believe me, then go see for yourself," the man responded. "The gate's on the eastern side of the city."

"Thank you for your help." Spyro said, and they left for the gate.

They'd only gone a few blocks when someone else stopped them. "Pst! Over here!"

A man roughly Link's height stepped out from an alleyway. He wore leather greaves and jerkin, with light metal bracers, and a helmet that obscured his face. He bore a curved scimitar in its scabard on his belt.

"I hear you're looking for Soul Edge." the man said. "I have information that will prove useful to you." He paused to look around cautiously, before continuing, "But I can't say anything here. Please, follow me." Without another word, he turned on his heel and took off back down the sidestreet.

Spyro and Cynder exchanged glances. "Do you think we can trust him?"

"I don't know," Link said. "I didn't get a chance to even tough his mind."

"Neither did I..." Spyro thought for a second. "He said he had information we might need, and right now, we need all the help we can get."

"Then we follow him." Cynder said.

A sharp whistle came from the alley before the masked man's voice rang out, "Hey! You comin', or what?" They didn't hesitate to follow this time.

They followed the man through the outter rim of the city, until coming to a ruin. As the man beckoned them inside, Spyro's unease increased. Ignoring this feeling, he led the others inside. After proceeding down a short hallway, they came to a tall, circular chamber. The man walked to the center of the room, before turning around to face them. Suddenly, his entire demeanor changed.

"So?" Flame asked impatiently. "What do you know? Tell us!"

"I lied." the man said fiercely, and he drew his sword, causing the others to jump in surprise. "I work for Nightmare. When he heard of your talents in battle, he sent me to recruit you five. But since your battle with him in that village, he changed his orders. Now he wants you eliminated!"

Link drew his sword and shield. "If there's one thing in all the Planes that angers me," he growled through gritted teeth. "It's a liar."

"Well, you won't have to deal with that hate for much longer!" the masked man yelled. Then he reached into his pouch and pulled out what looked like several small round pellets.

Link's eyes widened, and he shouted, "Bombs!"

No sooner than the words escaped his lips had the man lit the fuses on the bombs and threw two at each of them simultaneously. The fuses were just long enough for them to move out of the way before they exploded with ten identical thuds, which reverberated off the walls with deafening volume. They didn't end quietly either, and the entire chamber began shaking.

"The place is coming down!" Flame shouted over the rumbling when rubble began falling from the ceiling.

"No kidding!" Sparx screamed as he struggled to avoid small pebbles breaking his fragile wings.

"OUT!" Spyro roared before dodging a particularly large chunk of rock.

The masked man realized his mistake and made for the exit, but was stopped by another falling rock. He jumped back to dodge it, and landed on his rump. He couldn't get up fast enough to avoid another rock twice as large as he was, and was crushed beneith it with a scream of horror, then the sickening crunch of his bones snapping like twigs under the weight of the stone.

The others didn't think twice before sprinting to the exit. Ember's tail had just flicked out of the entryway when the whole thing collapsed, and they were shrouded in a thick layer of dust, causing them all to cough profusely.

When the dush settled, and their coughing fits had died down, they stared back at the remains of the crypt. Spyro felt a mixture of emotions, most of which he couldn't disipher. Anger, fear, even sympathy-which he mentally slapped himself for.

"Well, so much for THAT lead!" Flame shouted.

"It was never a lead," Link growled as he shoved his sword back into its scabbard. "We have more enemies than we need right now."

Spyro thought for a minute. "If Nightmare needs someone else to do his dirty work for him," he started. "Then we really did just underestimate him at the village." The others stared at him. "Even with the additional shards, he still won't be all-powerful until he completes Soul Edge, which I would bet my left wing that he's not going to stop until he does...or he's killed in the process."

"So, what you're saying," Link said. "Is that we need to stop Nightmare before we go searching for Soul Edge any further?"

"Our search for Soul Edge very well might lead us to a final confrontation with Nightmare," Spyro answered. "So I'd say we do a little of both along the way." They all quietly agreed.

"Alright. Anyway," Spyro continued. "We still need to pay a visit to that first gate, don't you guys think?"

And with that they again made their way toward the gate, without interruption this time. As they neared it, they became aware that they were being watched. Apparently, anyone wishing to pass through the gate was viewed with suspicion, but Spyro couldn't be sure.

Eventually, they came to a large stone platform before an even larger stone wall. Upon further investigation, Spyro and the others noticed the entrance to a tunnel leading directly into the wall. _That must be where we have to go,_ Spyro thought. Just as he mentioned this to the others, there was an airy woosh, and the soft thud of shoes landing on stone. Spyro turned back and saw a woman standing before the tunnel entrance.

She was taller than Link by about four inches, with long blonde hair, straight as can be; she wore a pale white dress that went down to her ankles, with a pink sash wrapped around her shoulders underneith a steel breasthplate; Her shoulders were also covered with lightweight steel armor, and she had a crimson red long-sleeved shirt underneith it all, covering her hands as well as her arms. A short sword and scabbard hung from her leather belt, and a shield was strapped to her arm. It was circular and small, only about two feet across, and had a symbol that looked like the head and antlers of an elk. It, too, was pink. Spyro had met many human females along their trip, several were eye-catchers, even for a dragon. But if there were anyone who's beauty would rival theirs, other than Cynder, this was she. When she spoke, Spyro thought it was an angel's voice.

"Stop!" Flame and Link barely heard her, they were too entranced by her appearance. Spyro was, partially, too, but he could still focus enough to understand her. "Why do you wish to pass through here?"

Spyro snapped out of his trance, and whistled to the others to snap them out of it. He glanced up and saw Link still staring at the girl, so he gave him a short kick in the boot with his hind paw. Then Link shook himself awake.

Spyro figured that this woman was well trained in telling if someone was lying, so he didn't think lying to her would help. So he told her the truth: that they wished to pass through the gate.

"You mean Charon's Pass. And who are you?" she asked.

"My name is Spyro." After he spoke, the others introduced themselves likewise.

"I am Sophitia, Guardian of the first gate imprisoning Soul Edge," the woman said. "And I cannot let you pass. Your quest is tainted by a desire for power."

"But we don't want to weild it," Spyro said. "We came here to destroy it."

"Even so," Sophitia continued. "You have no idea the evil power in the demonic sword. Even you can't withstand the temptation."

Spyro had to agree with her; Soul Edge was real, there was no denying it.

"But if you insist on proving yourself pure," Sophitia added. "Then you must brave the trials of Charon's pass. I will wait for you in the chamber before the gate. If you make it there, then I will consider allowing you entrance." And with that, she turned on her heel and dissappeared into the darkness of the tunnel.

"Well, guys," Spyro turned to them. "Here we go. This is our test. We have to make it through this dungeon."

"Well, what're we waiting for?" Flame exclaimed, already dashing to the tunnel. "Let's go!"

_I swear, his impatience is going to get him killed one day,_ Spyro thought as he and the others followed the red dragon into Charon's Pass...

* * *

><p><strong>And there's Sophitia. And their first dungeon. Exactly what'll be <em>in<em> the dungeon, you'll have to wait for the next chapter. **

**Thanks agian for reading this far, guys...and girls. Hope you enjoyed it so far! I appreciate reviews, good and bad. See ya later!**


	12. Chapter 11: The First Gate

**Here we go. This entire chapter will cover the dungeon known as Charon's Pass. Let's go!**

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><p>Chapter 11: The First Gate<p>

The first chamber of Charon's pass was a long tunnel just wide enough for them to walk two at a time. But it was so devoid of light that Spyro couldn't see further than ten feet in front of him, even with Sparx's glow.

"I can't see a thing." Flame said.

Link stepped forward. "I can take care of that." He held his hand up and muttered a few words in a language foreign to Spyro. However, he felt some kind of energy coming form them, like they trully _meant_ something to him. Once the last word was said, a tiny ball of light appeared in the palm of Link's hand, a werelight that illuminated the entire hallway, which was revealed to gradually scale upward.

"Whoa!" Flame exclaimed, his voice echoing in the narrow passage. "How did you do that?"

"As a Planeswalker, I can use magic beyond that of normal mages," Link answered. "So I can hold this almost indefinitely."

"Well, now that we can see properly," Spyro said. "Let's go."

"Really? We gotta go into the dark, creepy tomb that we don't know what's in it?" Sparx stammered.

"Yes, Sparx," Cynder said. "Unless you _want_ to face Nightmare again, with the full force of Soul Edge."

"Point taken!" And Sparx buzzed to the front of the procession. "Let's go!"

_He is so weird,_ Spyro thought as he followed his foster brother.

As they entered the next chamber, the werelight in Link's hand flew up to the ceiling, illuminating the entire chamber; It was large and ractangular; the walls stretched over fifty feet from corner to corner, and three stories high; On the far wall was another doorway, but it was covered with iron bars.

"How are we going to open that?" Flame asked, though Spyro guessed he didn't expect a good answer. In fact, a bad answer came to them all, for as they stepped into the chamber the doorway they came in slammed shut with iron bars.

"Hey!" Sparx shouted to no one in particulay. "That's not fair!"

"It's not supposed to be," came a male voice from the center of the chamber. There stood a young man weilding a long sword with two hands. "Let me tell you how this works: In each chamber, you will fight one of us. If you succeed, the doors open. If not, then you will be ejected from Charon's Pass, by force if need be."

"Well, then let's get this started." Flame said, getting into his battle stance.

"You don't waste any time, do you, young dragon?" the man said, doing the same.

The battle didn't last very long. Flame charged in recklessly with a Comet Dash, leaving no room for evasion. After singing the guard's clothes and sending him staggering back, the fire breather unleashed a powerful combo attack. He had him pinned to the ground within the minute, without a single scratch. Once the man announced his defeat, the doors at both ends of the chamber opened.

"Ok, it's official," Link observed as he walked past Flame. "Don't make him mad, if you don't want to die."

"Yeah," Spyro added. "Or unless you know you can beat him." Flame growled silently, but Spyro paid him no mind.

The next hallway curved upward steeper than the first, and turned around to the left so they were facing the opposite direction they came in. The next two battles were no different, except for the guards got progressively more difficult to defeat. The last one in particular was a pain. Link even had to resort to using his various items, including a strange device he calls a "clawshot."

Once the last guard fell, he graciously opened the door to the chamber where Sophitia waited for them. It was a rectangular platform at the top of a tall pillar in the open air, a bridge leading from the doorway to the platform, where Sophitia stood with her sword drawn and shield strapped, her golden hair blowing in the strong breeze.

They cautiously walked across the bridge, the dragons taking extra care to keep their wings folded to prevent the wind catching them.

"So, you're the final defender of the gate," Link said when they were about halfway, though Spyro thought he was stating the obvious.

"Yes," Sophitia said. "And I've been watching you five the whole of your journey."

"Yeah? How?" Sparx asked from under Spyro's wing, where he hid from the relentless gusts of wind.

"This." She held up a mirror. "I've been scrying you ever since you set foot in Charon's pass."

Link's face lit up. "So, am I right to guess," he said as they stepped onto the platform. "That you're a Planeswalker?"

She smiled and simply nodded. "Now, if you wish to pass, then let us begin." With that, she got into battle stance, as did Spyro and the others.

As soon as they were ready, the wind seemed to die down in an instant, followed by a vicious shaking. Spyro looked back to find the bridge retracting into the platform. Once the shaking stopped, he looked back at Sophitia. There was no retreating now.

Finally, Flame's nerves got the better of him, and he charged in. Sophitia had ovbiously expected him to charge in first, and slammed her shield into his face with a loud _clang. _While he was dazed from the counterattack, she kicked him in the side of his head before throwing him aside. He lay gasping for air at the edge of the platform, some unseen force keeping him from falling off.

Ember ran to his side while the others attacked at the same time. Sophitia managed to keep track of all three of them, however. What was worse, she was faster than they could keep up with. By the time they landed their first three hits on her - and even those were only minor scratches on her hips - they were already battered and bleeding. Link was lying on the ground, recovering form a shield bash to the back of his head; Ember had gone down after only a few hits; Spyro and Cynder still fought in unison, and were equally covered in wounds on their shoulders, hips, and faces. The thin membrane of Spyro's left wing was torn with a two foot long gash that bled almost profusely, the only between their wounds.

Spyro charged in with Cynder at his side. Just before they got into reach of Sophitia's sword, Spyro sidestepped, and Cynder dove into her shadow. Confusion shown on Sophitia's face for a split second, but even that was enough for Spyro to attack with a Comet Dash, singing the woman's clothes and knocking her off-balance. Then Cynder performed a Shadow Strike, knocking Sophitia into the air. There, Cynder unleashed a ten-move combo attack, thrusting her horns into Sophitia's stumach and knocking her back to the ground.

Link had recovered by then. As Sophitia stood up, he charged and unleashed a powerful Spin Attack. The force of the energy wave would have thrown Sophitia off the platform were it not for the invisible force field around the edges. Instead, she collided with the field and slid down to the ground.

As she lay on her back, gasping for air, Link walked up and pressed his sword up against her throat, stating, "We win."

Sophitia smiled. "So you do."

* * *

><p>As they reached the bottom of the tunnel once again, Sophitia stopped at the entrance, the others walking a few paces before noticing she had stopped.<p>

Confused, Spyro asked, "What? We passed, didn't we?"

She frowned. "You passed the combat test, yes. However, your quest is still tainted by darkness. I cannot let you pass." She inclined her head in a gester of respect, but still said, "I am sorry."

_Damnit! _Spyro thought, not even bothering to hide the frustration on his face. _We went all this way just to be stopped by a technicallity! _If Sophitia could hear his thoughts, she showed no sign of it.

Noticing Spyro's face, Cynder said, "Then we will be going. We apologize for your time, Sophitia."

"There is nothing to apologize for, young dragoness," she replied kindly.

Before any more words could be said, they walked off, leaving Sophitia for guard the gate once again.

* * *

><p>"So, NOW what!" Flame roared as they sat at their table in the local diner, drawing the prying eyes of several onlookers. "We can't get past the gate, so we can't get to Soul Edge to destory it, so the time we spent getting here was completely <em>wasted!<em> NOW WHAT!"

"For the fifth time, Flame," Spyro said irritably. "_I don't know!_"

"There must be some way through the gate." Link said.

"We could just fly over it," Ember piped up. "We have wings, in case you haven't noticed."

"I've thought about that," Link said. "But Sophitia's likely placed wards over it to prevent eager dragons from trying it."

"Maybe a fresh meal might clear your heads," the waitor said, bringing their food: five large steaks on a huge plate. "After what you lot went through at the gate, I imagine you're quite hungry. Enjoy."

Link thanked him and paid for their meal. From their, they ate in complete silence. Flame, as usual, had his down his throat within the minute, despite the size of the steak (Ember rolled her eyes), while Spyro ate at a particularly slow pace, lost in thought. They were still silent for ten minutes after they were finished.

Finally, Cynder broke the silence. "Maybe we should find an inn," she said. "We could all use a good rest."

Spyro was reluctant to agree with her, as he wanted to find a way to pass the gate, no matter how long it took to think of it. But he still had sence enough to know he wasn't thinking straight. So they thanked the waitor, asking to give their compliments to the chef before they left.

When they stepped outside, they turned the corner and made for the inn two buildings down. Spyro stole a quick glance in the direction of the gate before turning to follow his friends.

What he saw then made him stop dead in his tracks: There, on the other side of the street, was Nightmare, Soul Edge slung over his shoulder.

Spyro froze, paralyzed by the very presence of the dark knight. He remained staring at Nightmare until he was swallowed by the afternoon traffic of people. _What is _he _doing here? _Spyro thought. _And how are those people not noticing him?_

"Hey, Spyro! You frozen back there?" Sparx's voice tore Spyro from his trance. He turned to see them staring at him in concern.

"Spyro, are you ok?" Cynder asked, walking up to him.

"I thought I just saw..." the purple dragon looked back in the direction he saw Nightmare, and saw nothing of the dark knight. "Never mind." _I'm probably seeing things...Man, do I need some rest._

They payed for a room in the inn, and went to sleep...

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><p><em>Spyro found himself back in the burning field, Link standing battle-ready by his side, and the same blonde-haired man lying on the ground to his left. The same flame-covered creature stood wielding a massive sword with an eye in the blade. The fleshy look of Soul Edge still made Spyro shiver. The Flameborn beast raised Soul Edge over its head and brought it down...<em>

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><p><em>Spyro's vision blurred when the scene changed, and he found himself staring at the platform where he had fought Sophitia earlier that day. Only, instead of him and the others standing on the platform, a knight in azure armor stood with his eyed sword drawn and held to his left side, Sophitia herself standing with several deep wounds. Her breathing was almost forced, her chest heaving with every breath.<em>

_"This is your last chance, woman," Nightmare shouted from the other side of the platform. "Let me pass, or die!"_

_"No!" Sophitia replied, her voice still full of resolve, as though she were willing to give her life to protect the gate. "I cannot allow you to posess Soul Edge!"_

_"Big mistake," and Nightmare raised his sword._

_"You may kill me," Sophitia said bravely. "But the gate itself will never let you pass."_

_"That's where you're wrong: The gate was designed to keep the energy of Soul Edge in. As I posess Soul Edge in part, it will let me pass without a second thought!" And with that, Nightmare brought down his sword on the platform, and there was a deafening explosion..._

* * *

><p>An explosion tore Spyro from his waking dream. He jerked his head up from the pillow and looked around the room frantically. Cynder and the others were also awake, obviously woken by the same explosion.<p>

"What the hell was that?" Flame asked, wide awake.

By then, there were the sounds of people moving throughout the inn on the lower floors.

"It isn't good, whatever it is," Spyro concluded. "Come on."

They made their way through the croud of people who were so abruptly woken from their beauty sleep, and pushed their way outside. Once there, they became aware of the strong smell of smoke in the air. Spyro looked in the direction of the gate and saw a tall pillar of said smoke. _Oh, no!_

"Let's go!" he and Cynder said simultaneously. They ran though the city, pushing past people who were trying to find the source of the sound. The explosion had woken the entire population, that much Spyro guessed.

When they reached the gate, Spyro's mouth hung open in horror at what he saw: the gate had been destroyed, sliced open by what looked like a single stroke of a giant sword; Fires from the surrounding buildings filled the air with the sent of smoke and red lights dancing around the place; the bodies of the guards were scattered all around the remnants of the gate...

_Sophitia! _Spyro thought. "Guys, find Sophitia!"

"No need," Link said, pointing at the mouth of Charon's Pass. several people were crowded around the platform, staring at someone lying on the ground, who Spyro realized was Sophitia.

He and Link shoved their way through the crowd and knelt by the guardian. She was wounded badly, with several deep cuts identical to the ones Spyro saw in his dream.

When Ember broke through the crowd, she examained the wounds. "They're not as bad as they look," she said. "It'll take some time, but I can heal her."

"Spyro..." Sophitia said, drawing their attention.

"Sophitia!" the purple dragon exclaimed. "What happened?"

"It was Nightmare," she answered. "He seeks Soul Edge with a terrible darkness in his heart. Someone must stop him..."

"What're we waiting for, then?" Flame asked. "Let's get in there and kick his sorry..."

"No," Sophitia cut him off. "Please, inform Altair. Tell them that the first gate has fallen."

"Ok, stop," Ember said "Those wounds may not be fatal, but they can still get infected. So, first off, we need to close them." And she got to work on the guardian's wounds. It took almost until dawn to heal enough of them so she could find a local healer to finish the job, as Ember exhausted nearly all her energy in the work, and needed to use several mana crystals from her satchel to keep from blacking out.

When Sophitia had been delivered to the healer, she smiled at them. "I know I can count on you. You must hurry."

"Don't worry," Cynder said. "We'll be back."

* * *

><p><strong>So that's Mizar and the fall of the First Gate. Nightmare must be strong if he can cut open the gate with a single stroke, even with a sword that big. When I first read that part on Weapon Master, I almost feinted.<strong>

**Also, I didn't know if Leana survived once you head to Altair, so I just decided to say, 'she WILL live!'**

**Anyway, thanks again for reading! 'll get started on the next chapter soon. Reviews of all kinds are welcome, so feel free.**

**See ya later!**


	13. Chapter 12: Fortress of Altair

**Hello again! Now the group moves on to Altair, the next major location on their quest to destroy Soul Edge. Without any further delay, LET'S GET READING!**

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><p>Chapter 12: Fortress of Altair<p>

"Halt! What is your business in Altair?" a man at the top of the wall shouted.

They had traveled to Altair after making sure that Sophitia was safely with the healers, and had come across a large wall blocking the way in. As they walked up to the gate to hail the soldiers, they were stopped, and now had dozens of longbows trained on them, waiting for any excuse to fire.

"We bring a message from Mizar!" Link said to the man who had shouted down to them.

"And for what reason would we believe that?" came the man's response. "We've seen only those looking for Soul Edge, going the wrong way."

"The message comes from Lady Sophitia herself, sir!" Spyro shouted. "The first gate has..."

"Silence!" The man's voice echoed all around, silencing everyone on and around the wall. No one spoke until his voice reverberated no more. "Now, we will send out soldiers to escort you inside and to the dungeons, until we can solve this matter. Do not attempt to resist, or I will order my archers to fire. Is that clear?"

Link sighed. "Transparently," he called up.

The man shouted a few orders to his men, and within the minute, the double doors opened, revealing a dozen armed and armored soldiers. Flame growled, obviously eager to fight. Spyro shot him a warning glance, which he ignored. He was placated only when Ember brushed up against him with her hip.

The soldiers escorted them inside, closing and locking the doors behind them, and led them through the fortress, taking them down a few flights of stairs until they came to the dungeon. Link was put in almost like escorting a guest, while Spyro and the others were thrown in like animals. They clearly thought of dragons as little more than that: animals.

Minutes after the cell doors were locked, another man walked in, the same one who had ordered them imprisoned; he was clad in steel armor plating from his neck down; he held his helmet under his arm, it too was made of steel; a sword was strapped in its scabbard around his waist; his hair was shaved off entirely; and his eyes were purple, just a few shades lighter than Spyro's scales. _**(O.C.)**_

"Now," he said. "What is your business in Altair?" Now that they were closer, the commanding tone in his voice was all the more evident. With a voice like his, Spyro thought he could have taught Malefor a thing or two.

"As I told you before," Link answered. "We bring a message from Mizar."

"Well, then," the man said impatiently. "What does Lady Sophitia have to say?"

Link hesitated, so Spyro answered for him. "The first gate has fallen."

The man turned his gaze to the purple dragon, his expression, if it was even possible, hardened further. "That's immpossible," he practically hissed through gritted teeth.

"Search our minds if you really must!" Link exclaimed. "We saw it, the burning remains of the gate, the guards lying dead on the ground, Sophitia wounded..."

_"Silence!"_ the man drew his sword and struck Link's cell, the resulting clang echoing deafeningly throughout the room, making Spyro and the others cringe. "The three holy gates are impenetrable. No _one_, and no_thing_ can get past them without the guardian's permission."

Flame scoffed. "Yeah, don't we know that."

"You!" the man pointed his sword at Flame. "Hold your tongue!"

Flame was about to retort, when Ember slapped him upside the face with her tail. "Be quiet!" she whispered. "Do you want to get out of here alive?" Flame closed his mouth and retreated slowly to the back of the cell, hanging his head and growling the whole while. He would've killed her on the spot had she not been female, of that Spyro was certain.

"Now, I ask again, _what is your business in Altair!" _the man asked, more forcefully. "And don't even _think_ about lying to me again!"

"We're telling the truth!" Spyro shouted. "The gate was destroyed, and Sophitia sent us to inform the lord of Altair of the danger!"

"Bah!" the man groaned in frustration. "If you won't tell me the truth, then you can rot in here for the rest of your natural lives!" He shoved his sword back into the scabbard and stormed out of the room. "Make sure they don't try anything!" he shouted at the two guards standing at the door, before slamming it shut. They were silent for a few minutes.

"Now what?" Flame growled. "First we were stopped, now we're captured. Could this 'adventure' get any worse?"

"Yeah, if we were to fail." Cynder retorted, though she had no intention on amusement.

"And as long as we're in here we're _sure_ to fail!" Flame continued his rant for a good two minutes until one of the guards outside slammed something metallic into the door with a shout of "Hey! Quiet in there!"

The rest of the day turned out to be uneventful, except for the guards bringing them a few meager loafs of stale bread. It wasn't much, but it was enough to settle their empty stomachs, though Flame's stomach still growled loudly every minute or so, until they went to sleep on the cold stone floor...

* * *

><p><em>He had exited the secret passage from Aldebaran and was now walking to the demonic land of Rigel. His armor rattled with every step, and Soul Edge pulsed every few seconds, still only a shadow of its true power. <em>

_However, there were several more shards on the far side of Rigel. With their power, he would be able to obliterate the second and third gates with ease. _

_Just a few more steps of the plan, and he would be restored!_

* * *

><p>Screams and battle cries tore Spyro from his slumber. The others were looking around in confusion, obviouly having been woken by the sounds of battle just outside the door of the dungeon.<p>

Then came the sound of steel slicing flesh, and one of the guards cried out in agony. A blade pierced flesh once again, and the guard fell silent. Then the door fell in under the weight of two men being slammed against it. The second guard pinned another man in leather armor to the floor before stabbing him in the face with his sword.

"What the hell's going on?" Spyro, Cynder, and Link shouted simultaneously.

"We're under attack!" the guard gasped. "Whoever they are, they're fools if they think they can take this fortress!" He stood back up and limped back out the door. "Stay here!" he shouted as he rounded the corner.

"Duh!" Flame shouted after him. "Ok, now we're sitting ducks in the middle of a fight! Just GREAT!"

"Uh, I wouldn't give up just yet, fire-guy," came a familiar voice, and a certain yellow dragonfly buzzed into the room. "Locked up again, I see, bro."

_"Sparx!" _they all exclaimed.

"Whoa! Not so loud! It's a narrow room!" Sparx's voice sounded extremely strained as he nearly dropped what he'd been carrying: a key.

"Never thought I'd say this, but," Flame said. "Boy, am I glad to see you."

"Yeah, well," Sparx flew over to the cell and dropped the key at Spyro's paws. He let out a breath he seemed to be holding. "I can't carry this thing anymore, much less open the door for you, so..."

Cynder grabbed the key and maneuvered it with her tail so they fit into the keyhole. Once she turned it, the _click_ signalled that the door was unlocked. Pushing it open, she removed the key and unlocked Link's cell.

"Alright." Flame said. "Now I'd say it's time for us to get up to the surface and get the hell outta here."

"Uh, you do realize there's still a battle going on here, right, hot-head?" Ember asked.

"So?" the said hot-head replied. "We just fight our way out!"

"Sounds good to me," Link said drawing his sword and shield. "Luckily they weren't of the mind to take my weapons or your sacks."

They left the dungeon, Ember deliberately looking at the ceiling so as to avoid looking at the dead bodies. Blood and gore still sickened her. But if she wants to become a master healer, she'll have to get used to the sight.

Around the corner, signs of the battle were everywhere, from scratches on the walls from swords, to blood stains on the floor. After running past those and up several flights of stairs, they came to the main entrance through the wall; the doors were busted wide open by a battering ram; the soldiers guarding the wall were holding off a force of warriors in the same bronze armor they had seen in the dungeon. Spyro wondered exactly who they were with, but knew it would be foolish to ask.

"Come on, guys!" Sparx exclaimed. "There's an opening! Let's get outta here!"

They had started in that direction when Spyro noticed the exact conditions of the fight while examining the battlement with his mind, and the Altairian soldiers weren't doing very well. They were outnumbered three-to-one, and their foes were relentless. If this kept up they would lose the wall.

He slammed his paws into the ground and skidded to a stop. Cynder was the first to stop, while the others went a good ten paces before following suit.

"We can't leave!" the purple dragon declared. "If we leave them, then all of Altair will be defensless!" Before the others could object, he turned and threw himself into the fight, thrusting his tail directly into the nack of a bronze soldier's neck, where there was no armor. With a grunt, the man fell silently to the ground, and Spyro moved on to the next group of soldiers.

"Well, what're we waiting for?" Flame shouted. "You heard him, we got a battle to win here!" And with a war cry, he charged after Spyro. The others didn't follow until Flame had killed two men, and Ember was reluctant even then.

Spyro fought with all his might. The bronze warriors were no match for him while he fought for a purpose, which was to defend Altair. However, the fight was getting tiring, and the enemies had taken notice of him after his tenth kill. With every man he killed another took his place, with even more right behind them. Spyro's offensive and defensive moves began to slow, but he fought on.

After what seemed like hours of fighting, Spyro missed a block with his wing and was struck on his flank with the butt of a sword. He cried out in pain as he felt several of his ribs crack under the force of the blow, which sent Spyro sliding several yards before coming to rest on his opposite side. Still dazed by the hit, he couldn't do anything but watch as the man who had hit him raised his sword with the tip pointed at the purple dragon's heart.

"I'm gonna leave you screaming, dragon," he snarled. _"Like a stuck pig!" _

Before he could end the purple dragon's life, a gurgling scream excaped the man's mouth as the silver blade of a sword appeared in his chest. The blade twisted, and the man's scream stopped. He mearly glanced over his shoulder at whoever had stabbed him. A figure wearing silver-steel armor rose from a crouched position.

"No if I stick you first," the figure said before removing his sword from the warrior, who fell over dead. The figure removed the helmet, revealing the bald head of the commander. "You alright?"

"Yeah."

"Good," the man said, offering a helping hand, which Spyro accepted after a few seconds.

They locked eyes. Spyro wanted to glance into his mind, but refrained from doing so; the commander probably was trained in mental defense...and offense, more than likely.

"Gerrard," the man said. "My name is Gerrard."

The purple dragon nodded. "Spyro."

Gerrard looked back at the fight. "Listen, I can't leave my men back there," he said. "But we can't hold them much longer."

"Whatever the trouble," Spyro said. "I'll stand and fight! Right now, you need a dragon or two on your side!"

"How about four dragons and another man?" Spyro and Gerrard turned to see Cynder, Flame, Ember, and Link looking at them with fierce looks in their eyes. Even Ember's eyes were fiery with battle-fever.

Gerrard nodded his approval. "We need all the help we can get right now."

"Well, then," Link said. "Let's finish this fight!" Without another word they charged back into the fray.

The battle took another half-hour, during which they had sustained several injuries; the membrane on Ember's left wing had been sliced wide open by a broadsword and was bleeding profusely, forcing her to use several red crystals to prevent herself from bleeding out; Flame narrowly managed to avoid getting decapitated by a man wielding a great sword, whom he killed with a massive fireball that melted his face in an instant; Spyro had sustained several minor-to-moderate wounds on his sides, a result of fatigue, as he had been unable to avoid those blows; Link was relatively unscathed, unless you count him now slowing down to half his normal speed; Cynder's wounds were almost identical to Spyro's, except for the cut on his side that nearly cost him his life; Gerrard was completely unmarked, though his armor was dented

Suddenly, Gerrard shouted, "Drop the portcullis, _now!"_ At his word, the grated door fell hard over the door, crushing the battering ram as though it were made of toothpicks, and sealing off the hallway, thus stopping reinforcements.

After They finished off the current enemies, one of the fort's soldier's ran up, limping on a wounded leg.

"Sir!" the soldier said, his voice that of a boy's. "There are still enemies on the top of the wall! We need help to finish them off!"

"We're on our way," Gerrard said. "Now get to the healer. You need to get off that leg."

"But Sir, I can still fight!"

"I said find the healer, soldier!" shouted the commander, more forcefully. As the boy cringed - for it was a boy undernieth the helmet; not yet seventeen, by his voice - Gerrard's expression softened. "Listen. I value all of your lives more than I do defeating those rebels.

"Now, I trained you myself, Will," Gerrard continued. "So you know when to stop and rest. At least until you can walk without such a bad limp." Reluctantly, Will nodded. "Now go, boy, _go!"_

"Yes Sir!" Will saluted, and ran off, disappearing through a door leading further into the fort.

"Well, you heard the lad!" Gerrard shouted to Spyro's group and the rest of the human's men. "Let's go! We've got a battle to win here!"

They ran through a different door, which led to the inner courtyard of the fort. Spyro didn't pay any attention to the details. He only ran straight after Gerrard, following him up another flight of stairs leading up the wall, where the battle continued; bodies were strewn all over the ground; the silver-clad soldiers of Altair were struggling to hold back another wave of the bronze-armored warriors; and more enemies were flooding from several crudely-built siege towers.

The insignia on the side of the towers caught Spyro's eye instantly: two broadswords crossing behind an open eye on a blood-red background. An idea formed in Spyro's head as to who these men were working for, but he pushed the thought aside so he would have a clear mind in the task at hand: eliminating the enemy.

As he beheld the battle, Gerrard shouted a war cry. In responce, the Altairian soldiers shouted even louder, causing their enemies to cringe. Spyro half expected them to fall over dead simply from the ferocity of the soldiers' shouts.

While they were still shouting, Gerrard, along with the rest of the men he brought from the courtyard, charged into the enemy's ranks, shouting and killing all the way. With the additional reinforcements, along with Spyro's and the others' help, they were able to destroy the towers and send the attackers either to hell, or screaming over the wall. Those who survived the fall ran from the fort. The shouts of the soldiers signalled Altair's victory.

Once the shouts died down Gerrard turned to Spyro and the others. "Thanks for your help." he said, sending murmurs throughout the soldiers. Spyro figured that Gerrard doesn't show a compassionate side all too often, much less to strangers.

"We're just glad we could." Cynder answered.

Gerrard seemed to slap himself mentally. "I never did get all your names."

And they went through the usual introductions. When they were done, everyone was silent, waiting for the commander's responce.

"Very well," he finally said. "You have my approval to pass into Altair; you've more than proven yourselves in my eyes. And you are welcome to stay in the fort tonight."

"Thank you, sir," Link said.

"Please, just call me Gerrard." He glanced at their wounds. "I'd suggets you lot get to the infirmery; those wounds won't heal with a single night's rest alone."

"Actually," Ember piped up. "I thought I could help your healer out." Gerrrard gave her a questioning look. "My necklase allows me to heal many minor wounds in an instant, and more severe wounds within a few minutes."

"Ah, magic," Gerrard said. "Very well...Someone show this lot to the infirmery. I doubt they know their way around this fort perfectly, and I don't want our guests getting lost."

And so it was that they stayed the night in the fort; when their wounds were healed, Ember remained in the infirmery to help the healer; Spyro, Cynder, Link, and Flame returned to the surfase to help despose of the dead, burying Altairians and burning the others; After a hearty dinner, far better than any deer they could have on the road, Gerrard showed them to the barracks, hammocks hanging in an organized fashion from the stone ceiling.

"I'm sorry we don't have better quarters, but..."

"Don't be," Cynder inturruped. "It's better than any we've had since coming here, save for the beds in the inns."

They chose the hammocks closest to the door, so they could exit the barrocks with relative ease when the remaining soldiers put their gear on in the morning. The night was no different from the outside, save for the change in surroundings and lack of any sound but that of breathing. Spyro was surprised that none of the soldiers snored. When he finally found sleep, his dreams were the same: a dead field covered in flames, and a strange beast covered in fire. Spyro now believed that the flames on the field and the beast were coming _from _the creature. He had grown accustomed to the dream by now, so he wasn't bothered in the morning.

After another hearty meal in the morning, Gerrard and Will - Ember had healed his wounded leg herself - escorted them to the back door of the fort; double doors made of solid oak.

"Well, this is where we part ways." Will said. "I hope you find whatever it is you're looking for."

"As for whoever destroyed the gate," Gerrard added. "I hope you kill him for what he did to Lady Sophitia. She'll be sure to heal her physical wounds, but the emotional wounds of failure will never heal."

"Oh, we will," Flame said , his voice ringing with his usual overconfidence. "We got a score to settle with the guy, anyway."

"So you know the bastard who did it," Gerrard said. "Who was it, then?"

"Uh...you're probably not going to believe this, but..." Spyro hesitated. "It was Nightmare."

Will cringed at the name. "Nightmare? As in the Bringer of Dispair, Dark Knight of Soul Edge... _That_ Nightmare!"

Spyro nodded.

Gerrard looked incredulous. "I knew he was powerful, but I never _dreamed_ evne he could do anything close to destroying the gate with a single stroke of his sword!"

"Which is why we have to stop him."

"Well, you've got a lot of work ahead of you," Gerrard continued. "The other two gates are guarded as well. The first of the two is likely to be the one you'll have the most trouble with; the guardian Yunsung is stubborn as a box o' rocks."

"Remind you of anyone, guys?" Ember asked rhetorically, inclining her head towards Flame.

"Who?" Flame asked, recieving a stare from everyone. "Wait, _hey!"_ he exclaimed as he realized who she was talking about, generating a round of laughter from everyone else, even Gerrard.

"The third gate you should have no problem," the captain continued as the laughter died down.. "The guardian Kilik is the wisest of all three; he'll surely see the light in your hearts."

"Thanks for your hospitality, Gerrard," Cynder said.

"Thank _you_ for your help defending the fortress," answered the captain. "Without the fort, we'd have no hostpitality to give."

And with a few farewells fromt the rest of the group, they pushed open the oak doors and exited the fort. From there, their next destination was revealed: the holy city of Altair.

* * *

><p><strong>And there's the fort of Altair. Also my first, and probably last, two OCs. I may give some of the further unnamed characters names, but my primary focus is the main storyline. Up next is...well, you can do one of two things: a) wait for the next chapter, or b) get a sneak peak in Stage 2 of the Altair level in SCII WM mode.<strong>

**Either way, I appreciate reviews, good and bad. Everything helps. See you later!**


	14. Chapter 13: Paradise of Altair

Chapter 13: Paradise of Altair

The group made their way to the city of Altair. Link had heard that Altair was said to be paradise on earth, but it seemed a much simpler and plainer construction than Spyro expected. The houses were reasonably small, and modestly built, obviously of wood. The streets were paved with the same cobblestone that covered the streets of Warfang. The familiar feel of the stone made Spyro homesick.

After asking around, they learned that the residents valued scholarship above combat skills, and utterly despised war. The inner walls of several buildings seemed to be made of bookshelves, leaving Spyro with the impression of a great library.

"And I thought the library in Warfang was huge," Ember observed as they neared the temple in the very center of the city.

"I know," Sparx said. "I'd say this whole city is a library in itself!"

"Oh, it pretty much is, young dragonfly," a male voice echoed through the air, coming from the direction of the temple. Its owner was an eldery dragon at the door. He lay on the ground with his right side facing them, hiding his left flank. His scales were a clowdy white; even while lying on the ground, he was taller then Terrador on all fours. Those were the only features that suggested his age; his wings were perfectly smooth, likely not having even seen the tip of a claw or sword; his eyes were a vibrant blue, still full of life; and his voice was almost identical to the Chronicler before Ignitus. At first, Spyro believed him to be the Chronicler, but knew better; the Chronicler's wings had been almost covered in holes.

Sparx looked around at the city once again before groaning in frustration. "How can you people stand to live here without any action? Don't you get bored, or sick of reading books all day?"

"I've spent most of my long years here," said the dragon. "So I've grown accustomed to the sight of books, though I have seen my share of combat." He stood up, revealing his true height - which put Terrador's size to shame - and turned to them. As he did so, he revealed a horrifying sight: the old dragon's entire left forelimb was gone.

Spyro and Cynder gasped in horror; Ember squealed for a split second; Flame's eyes widened; Link simply froze on the spot, apparently not knowing how to react.

"How...?" That was all Spyro could bring himself to say. He was too horrified by the sight to even think of anything else.

The dragon frowned slightly as he glanced down at his severed limb. "A battle scar I shall carry even unto my death...which should have been the day I recieved this wound." He closed his eyes as if trying to hold back tears.

Finally, Link spoke. "What...what happened?"

The old one sighed. "It was in the last battle in the war with Nightmare, shortly before the fall of the Dragon Riders..."

In the following pause, Spyro regained his composure and said, "The Dragon _Riders?"_

The old one raised an eyebrow. "You mean you don't know?" he asked, sounding exactly like Ignitus had when Spyro asked him what he was.

"Uh, yeah, you'd think it'd be obvious he doesn't know, considering he asked, pal," Sparx said.

"Sparx!" Cynder snapped. "Be polite." Sparx shrugged, but fell silent.

"Long ago," the old one began. "There was a fierce war between men and dragons. When the elders stopped the fighting, a truce was made, so such a war would never again occur."

"What kind of truce?" Spyro asked, suspecting that a simple word agreement wouldn't stop the ancient Wild dragons from starting the war again, nor would a simple scrap of parchment.

"Magic." He paused. "A chosen few were selected from each race to work together to keep the peace. Each pair was binded together in the most intimate way possible. Thus the Dragon Riders were formed."

"I've never heard of them," Ember stated.

"No, you wouldn't have," the elder said. "It was millenia ago. The purpose of the Dragon Riders were to keep the peace in the Multiverse, but also to ensure that another war between man and dragon would never occur again..." he paused again. "But, in the height of the Riders' power, they grew arrogant, and began fighting amongst themselves for power.

"As if sensing their weakness, Nightmare struck, with the full power of Soul Edge at his command. The war lasted for many years, costing many dragons and Riders their lives, and their souls." He lowered his gaze. He appeared to be holding back tears again. Spyro felt that he was remembering something painful from his past. "In the final battle in the Ostreinsburg Castle, Nightmare was defeated, though the Rider who wielded Soul Calibur, Vrael, was mortally wounded. Not even our best healers could save him.

"His dragon nearly went mad of grief as the loss of his Rider." He kept his head lowered, and a tear splashed onto the ground by his only front paw. "That is exactly how closely linked the Riders and their dragons were. When one of the two dies, the other feels as if a part of theirself dies." He paused. "The few dragons who survived the war and live today are known as the Old Ones to those who know their history."

"Who was Vrael's dragon?" Flame asked, surprising Spyro; Flame had never been into history, much less a history lecture, and yet he seemed particularly interested in this story.

Suddenly, the old one sobbed. "...Me." He looked up, revealing tears streaming down his face. "I am Umaroth, last surviving dragon who was once bonded to a Rider."

Spyro's eyes widened, and his expression turned from one of shock to one of awe and respect. Everyone else who was within earshot, even Flame, bowed to Umaroth. Only the five of them held it for more than a few seconds. In fact, they had no intention on rising any time soon.

Finally, Umaroth said, "Please, young ones, rise." And thus they stood up. "You're kindness touches me, but I am a Rider's dragon no longer. I am mearly the guardian of this city." After another minute, Umaroth ragained his composure.

"But, I'm sure you didn't come to the temple to listen to me rant about ancient history," he said in a deceptively brighter tone. "For exactly what reason have you come here? I can tell you're not from Altair."

Although unconvinced by the Old One's calm demeanor, Spyro looked around. "Um...Is there some place we can talk in private, Umaroth?"

"I sense this is a matter of utmost importance. Very well, follow me."

They followed Umaroth through the gigantic door to the Temple of Altair. Spyro guessed the temple had been built to house dragons the size of, if not bigger then, Umaroth. The interior suggested as much, as the ceiling was higher than the tallest spire in the Warfang Atrium, and then some - Spyro guessed it was over a dozen stories high; there were several pathways leading to different parts of the temple, each lit by a series of flameless lanterns.

The main hall was made of silvery-white stone with several stained-glass windows, depicting images of the Dragon Riders, some of humans alone, some dragons, and some with Riders astride their dragons. One particular mural showed a silvery-white dragon carrying a man with pointed ears and golden armor, wielding a longsword the exact same shade of white as the dragon's scales. Spyro found himself entranced by the beauty of the windows, left to wonder exactly how peaceful the Multiverse had been like under the watchful eyes of the Riders.

Cynder nudged him with her snout, snapping him out of his trance.

They followed Umaroth through the main hall, their footsteps echoing unnaturally loud in the massive chamber. They took the passage just to the left of a statue of a man. This pasage was also illuminated by flameless lanterns, which Spyro stared at almost the entire way, wondering how they shone so brightly. If Umaroth noticed his confusion, he didn't show it. They mearly continued down the hall without a word.

The passage led to another enormous chamber. It, too, was walled with stained-glass murals of Riders. At the very end of the long chamber was another mural of a white dragon carrying his gold-clad Rider. Only in this one, the sword wasn't white, but blue like the clear afternoon sky; the blade was split from the tip down; and the crossguard looked like flower pettals.

_That must be Vrael, _Spyro thought. Then he noticed the mural directly in front of it: Nightmare, wielding Soul Edge. _This must be their battle._

Other than the murals, the chamber was empty, save for a stone altar with a red cloth draped over it. A man in a brown robe sat crouched before it, head down and hands together as if in prayer.

Umaroth waved a wing at Spyro and the others. "Wait here." And he hobbled ahead of them, half-hopping on his one front limb.

As he neared the altar, the man ceased his murmuring and said, "You've brought guests, Umaroth."

"Yes, Lee." The white dragon motioned with his wing for them to approach. "These are Link, Spyro, Cynder, Flame, and Ember."

The man named Lee stood up and turned. His eyes were a kind brown, as was what little hair he had, and he was the exact same height as Link. "What brings you to Altair?"

"Bad news, I'm afraid," Link answered, and they repeated Sophitia's words to the priest.

"I had seen the thread of misfortune which clung to northern Mizar, but I never imagined that the gate itself had fallen..." Lee spoke with a look of great concern. He then faced them and said, "And she requested that you five deliver this message yourselves?" They nodded. "I see. In other words, she saw in you the potential to take on the Dark Knight, Nightmare."

Lee pondered for a moment and then led them to the altar, saying he had something to give them. "I'm sorry, but I cannot yet bring myself to trust you. Would you allow me to perform a small test?"

"What kind of test?" Cynder asked.

"A test of your will..."

At the sound of the priest's words, the sound of multiple footsteps caught their attention. They turned toward the mouth of the passage into the chapel to see five obviously hostile figures approaching: themselves! Their dopplegangers were identical to themselves, save for them being entirely black with glowing red eyes. Link drew his sword and shield, and they all got into their battle stances.

They atacked simultaneously, each of them engaging their shadow counterpart. Lee and Umaroth stood by the altar, watching the fight with great care. Neither side could gain the advantage, but Spyro knew that one of them would have to tire out eventually.

The fight was dead even on all five fronts; Shadow Spyro knew every trick in Spyro's arsenal, and Spyro did likewise; The two Flames' agressive attacks bounced off each other; Ember was doing nothing but countering and dodging her other half's moves and rarely attacked, though she was tiring quickly; Link and Dark Link seemed to be fencing, as they had each de-shielded the other; Cynder and her shadow were mirroring each other's movements, attacks, and feints. Neither had any scratches on them.

Finally, Shadow Spyro attacked at Spyro's head. As the purple dragon made to sidestep, the black dragon feinted and struck Spyro on his exposed flank with its tail. While he was surprised by the sudden change in strategy, Spyro couldn't regain his stance as Shadow Spyro hit him with a Dark Comet Dash.

As the black dragon made to perform a combo attack, Spyro blocked with his horns, hooking Shadow Spyro's claws in them.

Spyro suddenly got an idea. He jumped and twisted in a complete horizontal circle mid jump. With its claws still hooked onto Spyro's horns, Shadow Spyro's forelimb was twisted in a complete circle, and Spyro heard a sickening crack as its bones broke - or at least what Spyro thought were bones - and the creature gave a warped scream of agony.

Spyro landed on his paws, while his shadow counterpart was forced onto its side, still favoring its mangled limb. Spyro jirked his head, and the limp paw fell to the floor. Spyro didn't even think. He stabbed the creature in its throat. It squirmed as the blade pierced the dark flesh, and Spyro felt his tail cut the jugular. After a gurgled death rattle, Shadow Spyro's eyes stopped glowing, and it was still.

When Spyro removed his tail, there was nothing on it. The creature wasn't even bleeding. There was obviously a wound there, but no blood. Spyro didn't have to wonder why for much longer, as the creature dissolved before his eyes.

Link managed to disarm his doppleganger before slicing its leg open. As it fell to the ground, it looked up at Link with pure hatred in its red eyes.

Suddenly, it spoke with a warped imitation of Link's voice, "I will be back!"

"Yeah, well, until then..." And Link beheaded him. It too dissolved into nothingness.

By then, the others had defeated their dopplegangers. None of their wounds were serious, though Ember looked as if she'd endured an ape ambush; one of her wings were bent at an odd angle, obviously broken; her tail and hips were covered in wounds; and her face was likewise damaged; Even her necklase hadn't escaped unscathed, as several scratches and dents were visible along the collar. Only the ruby was undamaged.

After healing Ember to managable health, Umaroth and Lee approached.

"Well done, young ones," the white draogn said.

"Well done, indeed," Lee agreed.

"Well, that's all fine and dandy, but, exactly _what_ was the point of all that!" Flame shouted, dismissing the praises.

"I apologize for deceiving you," Lee said. "But it was necessary."

"Yes," Umaroth added, hardly perturbed by Flame's outburst. "Now, please, follow us."

Umaroth held out his front limb toward Lee, who, to Spyro's utter surprise, climbed up and sat in a gap between two of the white dragon's neck spikes.

"Is Umaroth...just..." Flame stammered before pausing.

"..._let_ Lee...get on his...back..." Ember continued the sentence, pausing herself.

"...like his own..._Rider_...?" Link finished in Ember's pause.

If Umaroth or Lee heard their question, they didn't respond, only started down the tunnel back to the main chamber.

"Well," Spyro said. "We have no choice but to trust them. Let's go."

They silently followed the ancient dragon back to the enormous main chamber, their paws - in Link's case, boots - echoing loudly in the hollow room. Instead of turning donw another tunnel, as Spyro had expected, Umaroth turned into an alcove, toward the silver statue Spyro had noticed when they entered the temple. As he reached the statue, Lee dismounted, with surprising elogance. Umaroth looked down at the statue's face, before lowering his gaze to his paws, a tear dropping from the tip of his snout.

It was only then that Spyro realized exactly who the statue was of: Vrael; he was standing with his legs together, feet slightly parted; his silvery stone face overlooked the entire hall, with long hair flowing down to the middle of his back; his hands clutched at the hilt of a sword, the tip resting between his spread feet. Spyro was too occupied by his awe to notice the color of the blade.

Just behind the statue was a stone slab, large enough for a full grown man to lay on, with a series of runes engraved on it. The runes were of a language foreign to Spyro, and he could only stare at them in confusion and wonder.

Lee stepped up to the stone. Holding his right hand over it, he murmured several words in a foreign language, similar to the one Spyro heard Link whisper in Charon's pass. As the last word echoed in the chamber, the engravings seemed to ripple through the air, before they transformed, becoming that of the common tongue that Spyro was accustomed to. Now it read:

Vrael Silvermane  
>Unknown - 1025<br>Vanquisher of the dreaded Nightmare,  
>Leader of the Dragon Riders,<br>Rider of Umaroth the Awakener.

"A setting sun will eventually rise,  
>the shadows will then lift.<br>Even in perpetual darkness,  
>a light will always show the way."<br>-Vrael Silvermane, _Light and Darkness._

Spyro held his breath and slowly raised his gaze to Umaroth, next to whom he was now standing. The ancient dragon's eyes were closed, but that did nothing to stop the downpour of tears that flowed from them. Finally, Spyro dared speak, "So...this is him..."

Umaroth sniffed and, in a croaking voice, said, "Vrael...my Rider...and closest friend...slain by the very creature who took my leg.." The old dragon couldn't contain himself any longer, and broke into a fit of sobs, barely managing to maintain his balance on the one foreleg he had left.

"When Vrael died," Lee explained. "Umaroth nearly went mad with grief. It's truelly remarkable that he's held onto his sanity all these years. These fits of sorrow," he gestured to the Old One. "occur every time he's in this alcove longer than a few minutes..."

It took almost an hour, but Umaroth finally regained his composure, though he remained silent throughout the remainder of their time in the alcove.

"Now," Lee said. "For what we're here for." The priest took a breath. "What you all overcame were, obviously, yourselves. Or, rather, your _darker_ selves. You have all proven the strength of your will." He moved back to the statue, placing his right hand over the sword just as he had the stone slab containing the remains of Vrael.

Lee muttered another series of words in the same foreign language, only this time, Spyro noticed two things: Link staring at the priest with slightly wider-than-normal eyes, and the area around Lee's hand glowing and eminating energy Spyro could literally feel.

A flash of light blinded him for a few seconds. After his eyes readjusted, Spyro saw the sword that was once in the statue's hands was now in Lee's hands, with a silver stone blade clutched by the stone Vrael.

Lee turned to Link. "Now, take this sword." he said. "You have earned it."

Link took the sword, which was of a pevuliar design. It was intricately decorated and its blade was split in two. Spyro felt it emitting a feeling of purity, yet at the same time, he could feel a darkness within it as well. After a few seconds, Spyro gasped as he realized what Link was holding.

This was the Spirit Sword, Soul Calibur; the very sword once wielded by Vrael; the very blade that had defeated Nightmare; and the only weapon that the Dark Knight still feared.

Link seemed to realize it too, though his face remained one of confusion. "This is Soul Calibur," he said with an equally confused tone. "But, then why do I feel darkness coming from it?"

Spyro took a second look at Soul Calibur. It was only then that he noticed the discoloration in the spirit sword; at the center of the crossguard was what looked like an open eye, similar to that of Soul Edge; blood-red tentacles seemed to be spreading from the eye, threatening to devour the entire sword.

It was Umaroth who answered. "During the final battle against Nightmare, Soul Edge saw it had met its match. In an effort to preserve itself, it attacked Soul Calibur itself, an immensly powerful mental assault that overwhelmed the spirit sword.

"By the time Vrael realized it, he was too late. The only thing he could do was use the last of his and Soul Calibur's power and strike down Nightmare. That was when he suffered the injury that was his undoing. Both he and Nightmare stabbed the other simultaneously. Vrael stabbed Nightmare through the heard, while Nightmare cleaved Vrael's lung in half with his thrust." His voice was heavy with sadness and regret, and Spyro thought he was on the verge of tears once again.

Lee patted the enormous dragon on his side before continuing. "We've been working ever since to purify the sword, though we've made slow progress, and the job is only partially completed. It is just enough to stop the darkness from spreading to anything else."

"And I believe you have proven yourselves worthy of posessing Vrael's sword," Umaroth said. "Answering the call when the evil reemerged; resisting the temptations of the shards you once carried; and surviving an encounter with Nightmare himself without submitting to the evil blade."

Spyro couldn't believe that Umaroth was entrusting them with one of his fallen Rider's posessions.

"I...I-I don't know what to say" Link stammered. "Thank you, Umaroth."

"Now," the ancient dragon said. "If I'm correct, you five are looking to destroy Soul Edge?" They nodded. "I can help at least a little more, with information: the remaining shards of Soul Edge lay sealed in the land to the east, in Antares."

"Just like we thought," Spyro said.

"And the three gates were built to protect the evil sword from evil ones," Umaroth continued. "Only those with pure hearts can pass through them. You must stop Nightmare from obtaining the shards and completing Soul Edge. Otherwise, the Soul Void, and the Multiverse as we know it, will be no more."

"No pressure, right?" Sparx said sarcastically. Spyro rolled his eyes.

After a few more farewells, they left the Temple, Soul Calibur held tightly in Link's sword hand.

* * *

><p>When they reached Mizar once agian, they immediately searched out Sophitia. She was recovering faster than expected; her wounds completely closed, though her ribs would take much longer to mend.<p>

She refused Ember's offer to help, saying, "They need you more than I do right now, young dragoness. Go with them."

As they climbed over the ruins of the gate, Spyro gave a backward glance at Mizar. This very well could be the last time they saw the city, should they fail.

Shaking the thought out of his head, he looked forward and led the others on. They had to defeat Nightmare, the sooner the better. The chase was on...

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><p><strong>There! Officially my longest chapter so far! (Over 4,000 words! Damn!) I just had to add a side story, and I absolutely love the concept of Dragon Riders.<strong>

**PS: I do not, and I repeat, _NOT_ own the Dragon Riders, Umaroth, or Vrael. They belong to Christopher Paolini, author of the Eragon series. (Blast them for not making movies out of Eldist or Brisingr yet!)**

**I know, Umaroth died in the Inheritance cycle, and it was Glaedr who lost his leg, but I just had to have Umaroth there. **

**Anyway, thanks for sticking with me thus far, people! I appreciate reviews, good and bad. Everything helps! **

**Next stop: Aldebaran! See ya there!**


	15. Chapter 14: Two Sparks in a Fire

**Well, hello again, my beloved readers. Sorry for the brief delay. I decided to take a break from the story to get updated on the other stories I'm reading (which are really good stories, by the way.)**

**Either way, I'm back, and our heroes are on their way to Aldebaran. Enjoy the show! (or story, rather...)**

* * *

><p>Chapter 14: Two Sparks in a Fire<p>

The image of his darker self was still fresh in Spyro's mind; the black-and-brown scales of pertetual darkness; the blood-red eyes of pure evil; the dark dragon's overall demeanor just begging for a bloodbath. The very thought of the creature made Spyro shiver, not only in fear of what would happen should it reemerge, but also in anger at Malefor for creating it in the first place, thus endangering Spyro's friends in one of the cruellest ways possible.

His thoughts of Umaroth before Vrael's tomb intensified as they exited the graveyard they had been passing through. Many of the headstones had bore the names of several fallen Riders that Umaroth had named as he led them through the temple the other day.

When Spyro voiced this, Link said, "Ostreinsburg Castle must not be too far from here."

Spyro looked around. Sure enough, in the distance to the north, Spyro saw what looked like the ruins of a large castle. He made a pact with himself that he would have to visit the Castle one day. Ever since Altair, he had wanted to visit the sight of Vrael's final battle.

With that settled, he returned his thoughts to their quest. Umaroth had said that their next destination was the land of Aldebaran, and they were not too far from the gate now.

"So, what do you think this Yunsung guy's gonna be like?" Flame asked, trying to make conversation.

"Judging from how Gerrard described him," Link said. "He's probably going to be a combination of your mouth, and Cynder's prowess."

Flame nearly pounced the human, but Ember saw it coming and leapt between them, preventing the red dragon from doing anything more than snarl.

The sun had just started to set, and Spyro remembered a few Altairean scholars talking about an underground passage in this region. He then recalled the three gates.

"Maybe this passage leads to the second gate?" he suggested, the five of them still walking along the road.

"It's possible," Link said.

Cynder looked up at the setting sun. "Maybe we'd better find a place to call it a night, it's getting late."

"Yeah, I'm beat!" Sparx said, wiping his brow.

Spyro looked around for a sheltered place for them to sleep, and he spotted a good place to the east. "That old ruin's right next to a river," he observed. "Water won't be a problem."

"And I really don't see any option other than sleeping out in the open," Cynder said. "And I'm getting tired of sleeping on flat rocks every night."

"Me, too," Ember said in a complaining voice.

As they arrived, they moved to the center of the ruin to get a better look at the damage. The place seemed to have become a ruin only recently; several chunks of rubble were charred black, and still emitting steam; several crimson blood stains were on the floor, still wet.

"Who do you think did this?" Link asked.

As the human spoke, Spyro became aware of a faint dark energy hanging in the air...one they all were all too familiar with.

"Nightmare," he said. "That'd be my guess."

No sooner than he spoke came the soft patter of feet landing on the ground in the direction of the entrance. They turned around to see a young man standing at the ruined arch. He wore long white pants with intricate designs on the knees, a short-sleeved shirt - orange on one side, white on the other - that came only to the middle of his chest, and thusly colored cloth bracers on his forearms. In his right hand was a curved sword; the blade had a gleaming silver luster, while the hilt and handguard were apparently gold; the guard was decorated with an angry eagle head, the blade seeming to protrude from the eagle's open beak. he had brown eyes and short, spiky, fiery red hair, just a few shades darker than Flame's scales.

Overall, he gave Spyro the impression of Flame in human form. And to make things even more complicated, when he spoke, his voice was just shy of being identical to Flame's.

"I was surprised at first that someone like you would make it here, but I see now that you have Soul Calibur." The young man spoke to them looking directly at the spirit sword in Link's hand. He then scoffed. "What were the dragon and priest of Altair thinking?" It appeared that they were not welcome.

"And who the hell do you think you are, insulting us like that!" Flame shouted, his eyes seemingly on fire, more than usual.

"I dunno, who are _you_?"

Before Flame could do anything stupid, Spyro stepped between them and gave the firebreather a stern look, causing him to snort in annoyance. Then the purple dragon turned his gaze to the young man.

"My name is Spyro. We're looking for Nightmare."

"HA! Why, to join him?"

"_Like that's ever gonna happen!" _Flame shouted, jumping over Spyro in a single bound. "We've already had an encounter with that monster, and we got a score to settle with him! Now, if you know where the hell he is, you'll tell us if you value your life!"

If the young man was intimidated by Flame's outburst, he didn't show it. On the contrary, he only seemed to become more hostile. "You think I would tell _you,_ who just threatened me? The only thing you'll have from me is my sword in your gut!

"I know that you're all nothing more than more fools in search of Soul Edge. Leave now," he said, swinging his sword in a circle before pointing it at them. "or this place will be your grave!"

Flame was all too eager for a battle, as usual, so he charged in immediately. His increased anger at the young man's comments negated all sence of self-safety, making it easy for the human to strike him in midair with a strong kick, before swinging at Flame's exposed throat.

Spyro barely managed to shoot an icicle, deflecting the blade just enough for it to miss, and giving Flame enough time to strike the boy's legs with his tail, knocking him on his back.

Flame pounced, pinning him to the ground. "You never answered my question," the firebreather hissed. "Who...are...you?"

The human got his legs under Flame and kicked him off, sending him flying over to Spyro, landing on his side. The human stood up. "My name is Hong Yun-seong," he said. "and you'd better quit now if you want to live!"

"Not a chance!" Flame exclaimed, jumping at Yun-seong again.

Yun-seong tried to kick Flame in the face again, but Flame flared his wings, slowing his speed just enough for Yun-seong to miss. He then thrust his wings backward, propelling him forward into Yun-seong's chest horns first, knocking the wind out of the human, and knocking him onto his back once again, and knocking his sword out of his hand.

With no weapon, Yun-seong couldn't do anything to stop Flame relentlessly swiping at his face. He couldn't even get his legs underneith the dragon again, as Flame was standing on the human's knees, preventing him from moving them more than a few inches.

Spyro felt nothing from Flame but a desire to hurt Yun-seong as much as he possibly could. It was the worst form of bloodlust he had ever displayed.

Fearing what Flame would end up doing, Spyro ran up to pull him off. Flame shot him an enraged look, stopping him in his tracks. His eyes seemed to be smoking with the rage he was releasing.

At his distraction, Yun-seong managed to kick Flame off again. He kicked up from the ground and dove for his sword. Standing up, he made to swing at Spyro, only to get the wind knocked out of him again by an Earth Mace to the gut. He collapsed to his hands and knees, coughing up a mouthful of blood.

Spyro maintained a combat stance. "Had enough yet?" he asked.

Yun-seung tried to stand up. His knees gave and he fell to his knees again, his shoulders shuddering with every haggard breath.

"Damn you!" he shouted. "You'll regret not finishing me off! I swear I'll kill you both!"

"Listen, Yun-seung!" Spyro shouted in turn. "It's true, we're looking for Soul Edge. And we are well aware of its danger."

Link stepped up, Soul Calibur still in hand. "We're seeking the demon sword so we can destroy it. We're also chasing the knight who destroyed the gate in Mizar. And we know he passed through here. If you know where he is, please tell us."

Yun-seung didn't listen. "I don't care what Altair or Mizar have to say! I don't trust any of you! You're the same as Nightmare!" He shook his head. "No, maybe worse - at least Nightmare doesn't try to hide what he's doing."

They were all silent for a long moment, during which Spyro was afraid Yun-seung would attack again. His fears were unfounded, however, and Yun-seung relaxed his grip on his sword slightly.

"He went into the Underground Passage of Juno," he finally said in a calmer - yet still hostile - tone. "He probably thinks the rest of Soul Edge it on the other side. He's a fool. If you're chasing him, then hurry up and go! Because," he managed to push himself to his feet. "if you stay here any longer, I'll skin you all alive!"

Flame obviously wanted to start another fight, but Ember kept him at bay this time. Cynder ruffled her wings, eager to leave Yun-seung to his anger. Spyro stepped back, and Link sheathed Soul Calibur.

"Thank you, Yun-seung," he said. "We will leave you now."

"Good," the young warrior spat. "I don't much like dragons in my home anyway."

They exited through the same door they entered through, and turned to the south. After walking another mile, they camped at the edge of a forest, on the other side of which was the entrance of the underground passage, according to Yun-seung.

"Wow," Ember sighed. "You and Yun-seung have a lot in common, Flame."

"We're _nothing_ alike!" the firebreather snapped, shooting a fireball into the firepit at the second word, igniting the firewood.

"Gee, I dunno," Sparx said. "You two certainly seem like two peas in a pod."

Link chuckled. "More like two sparks of the same fire."

Ember giggled, causing Flame's cheeks to seemingly glow redder than his scales, which in turn caused them all to chuckle.

After laughing the day's ordeals off, they all went to sleep, eager to finally catch up with Nightmare.

* * *

><p><strong>There's Yun-seung. Kind of a hot-head, isn't he? I guess it matches his hair. *chuckles*<strong>

**Now, I have two things I want you all to know:  
>1) I will be taking a break, so I can tweak my outline a little, and to get updated on stories I'm reading,<br>and 2) When I do update again, I will not be including the Underground Juno level. BUUUUUUUUUUUT I will be introducing a particular key character, a certain fencer we all know and love. (*whisper* _hint..._) **

**'Any-muh-who', Thank you all for sticking with me thus far! I appreciate reviews, good and bad (as usual, I know.) Like I said, I probably won't be updating for a little while, so I'm sorry if I lose any fans during the wait. I just hope I won't be gone too long...**

**BYE!**


	16. Chapter 15: A New Threat

**Hello, everyone! Sorry for such a long wait. I got caught up in another Spyro story I found, by DragonMaster000, called the Broken Line. (It is an awsome story, especially if you like detail.) I managed to read 24 chapters of it before realizing, "Oh, crap! I completely forgot my _own_ story!" Talk about embarasing, when you forget about your own work when reading another's. So, here I am, with sincerest apologies for making you all wait so long! I hope that this chapter will make up for it at least in part...**

**Anywho, now Spyro, Cynder, Flame, Ember, and Link move on to Rigel, and their first encounter with a character all we Soul Calibur fans should be all too familiar with...**

Chapter 15: A New Threat

As they emerged from the waterlogged tunnel leading from Aldebaran, the group looked out at the landscape that lay before them. Even compared to the locations through which they'd traveled so far, Rigel was an especially bleak and desolate area. Despite the abundance of rivers, it was a region of parched earch and scraggly vegetation.

"No wonder Nightmare came here looking for Soul Edge," Flame said. "This place is a dump."

Although slightly annoyed by the firebreather's attitude toward the situation, Spyro had to agree with him. From what Yun-seung and Umaroth had said, they knew that the cursed sword wasn't in Rigel. But one could be easily convinced that Soul Edge lay hidden in this hellish land if one didn't know better. So it was understandable that Nightmare came here in search of Soul Edge.

The overall look of the landscape sent tremors down Spyro's spine as he recalled a certain place in the Dragon Realms he'd rather not revisit anytime in the near future. Bad memories came back to him as he glanced at the expression on Cynder's face; she was thinking the same thing.

"We should hurry," the black dragoness said, trying to push the memories aside. "If we're going to catch Nightmare, this is as good a place as any to do it in. We've got him cornered."

The image of the gate in Mizar, sliced cleanly in two, flashed friefly through Spyro's mind, strengthening his resolve to catch Nightmare as they began their trek through the barren land. It was just a matter of time before they caught up with him...

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><p>They had been walking for only half an hour when they came across a small town, which in itself wasn't all that promising a sight; every building was made of crude wood from what few trees that grew in the region, many were in disrepair; the inhabitants, all of them human, appeared to be struggling to survive; many appeared sickly, others were skin and bones, appearing more like zombies than living people. the whole place gave Spyro the impression of a ghost town.<p>

"You'll find more cheer in a graveyard," Flame said in an undertone, looking around with the a forlorn expression. Ember shot him a look, but otherwise remained silent.

Spyro was too entranced by the harsh conditions these people lived in to pay any attention to the others. How could they bear to stay in this place? Spyro couldn't see himself staying in this wasteland for more than a few minutes before being fed up. Maybe it was because he'd spent the last 3 years living in a comfortable room in Warfang...

The sound of someone laughing tore Spyro from his thoughts. He glanced around for its owner, and spotted a man at the end of the street; his height was hard to judge from the distance, but Spyro guessed he was a head taller than Link, with long blonde hair, wearing a dark blue shirt and pants, with a red bandana around his neck; on his hip was the scabbard of a long, lavishly decorated rapier. Despite the distance, Spyro's dragon eyes could make out the expression of a man on a mission on this man's face.

"So it is you who has been pursuing Nightmare," the man said, his voice ringing with a commanding accent. He began walking toward them with a hint of nobility in his stride. Whoever he was, he believed he was important.

Spyro caught a glimpse of Link squinting at the man, before the his eyes widened in shock.

"Raphael?"

"So you _do_ remember me? the man you so easily bested in Regulus; about whom you likely thought, 'how could he ever hope to get out of here when he couldn't even beat me?' Well, guess what, _Link! _I made it out! And only the very day after our battle!"

"I never thought anything like that, Raphael!" Link exclaimed, trying to placate him. "I just..." he paused, his eyes narrowing in thought. "Wait...

"How do you know we were chasing Nightmare?"

"Ah. _Now_ we get to it." Raphael laughed. "You see, as soon as I defeated the pathetic excuse of a swordsman in Regulus, I set out after you. By the time I reached Benetnasch, you and your scaly friends here had already left, with quite a mess in your wake, I might add.

"I left east to find you and find out what you had about Soul Edge, when I was approached by Nightmare himself. The offer he gave me was too good to refuse, so now I'm working with him to find Soul Edge."

Spyro and the others instantly got into battle positions. Everyone except Link, who just stood there looking incredulous.

"Are you _mad!_" he shouted. "Do you even know what Nightmare is trying to do?"

"What, and you do?" Raphael retorted. "Besides, I have a plan."

Then his face turned serious. He drew his rapier and pointed it at Link.

"Now, if you've got time to be worrying about me, you should be worrying about yourself. Have you forgotten that there is but one Soul Edge?" he snapped. "In other words, it was our fate to fight one another sooner or later!"

Link drew his sword and shield. Spyro was about to engage when Link moved Soul Calibur in front of the purple dragon.

"Don't," he said with obvious anger in his voice. "He's mine."

Spyro was reluctant, but nodded. The others did the same, but Flame was still eager to engage. As Spyro looked from Link to Raphael, he could almost feel their anger radiating.

Link charged in, swinging his sword down at Raphael's head, only for his adversary to sidestep and give Link two swift cuts on his face, followed by a three-swing combo, sending Link staggering back. As Link was recovering, Raphael spun his sword around on a finger before returning to his very dance-like combat stance.

"Is that honestly the best you can do, boy?" the frenchman taunted. "You've gotten rusty since Regulus."

Link's face grew contorted with anger, and then he did the one thing Spyro least expected him to do: he threw his shield like a frizby! Raphael obviously hadn't expected this either, and barely had enough time to dodge it. While Raphael was still looking in surprise, Link charged in again, the currupt spirit sword in his hands glowing with charged energy. By the time Raphael saw it coming, it was too late, and the blade of Soul Calibur landed directly on Raphael's flank...

At least, it would have, had Raphael not instinctively flicked his wrist, thus moving his rapier into just the right position to block the attack.

As the two blades made contact, the energy Link stored in Soul Calibur was released. With nowhere to go, it combusted on contact. The flash of the explosion forced Spyro and the others to shield their faces with their wings. When he looked back at the battle area, dust obscured both men from view. In a few seconds, the wind blew the cloud of dust away, revealing the result of the attack.

There was a small crater in the ground where Link's attack had combusted, and both men were fifty yards on either side of the crater. The bad part was that Link was lying on the ground, panting, but worse was that Raphael had gotten to his feet. He appeared to be too stunned by the sudden display of power to make any advance on the downed Link, and only stared from the crater to Link and back.

Spyro shook off his stupor and ran over to Link. _He's breathing, that's a good sign,_ he thought as he saw Link's chest rising.

"C'mon, Link," the purple dragon said. He shook Link on the shoulder, but the human didn't stir. "Wake up!" Again, Link remained unconcious.

A laugh from Raphael caught his attention. The Frenchman had snapped out of his stunned trance and now looked as carefree as he had been before the fight.

"If that is really the best that he could do," he said. "then he really has no business being in this world!"

Spyro looked up to see Raphael leaning on his sword as if we were relaxing on a cane. Just his overall arrogant attitude and body language agrivated the purple dragon to the point of contempt.

"Shut up!" Spyro shouted, glaring daggers at the frenchman.

"It's the truth," Raphael retorted, not even remotely fazed. "He claims to be here to stop Nightmare, yet he couldn't even best me!" He laughed again. "If _I_ can best him, then he's nothing to the Dark Knight! And if you lot are mad enough to call him a friend, then you really have to rethink you're choosing methods!"

"I said, _shut up!_" Spyro roared again, on his paws in a flash. "Say another word against my friends and it'll be the last thing you do!"

"Hey!" Flame and the others ran to Spyro's side, all ready for combat. "You mess with him, sword-dancer, then you mess with us!"

"Hahaha! How touching, pet dragons standing up for their master. Weak, all of you, like the rest of your pathetic race!"

Spyro's roar of anger drowned out everything else as he, Cynder, Flame, and Ember all charged in to meet their foe.

As usual, Flame ran ahead of the rest of them, only to have his attack parried. Raphael kicked him in his head, sending him to the ground a few meters away, and the frenchman returned his attention to the other three dragons.

Not a moment too late, as Cynder assailed him with blades of razor wind, many of which landing glancing blows. The rest he simply parried and deflected with unusually quick flicks of his sword.

Ember changed her course and instead ran to where the now unconcious.

Spyro ran in, enveloped in flames in his custom Comet Dash, hitting with enough force to knock the human back several paces. Raphael managed, somehow, to stay on his feet.

Spyro had to jump back quickly to avoid the razor-sharp tip of Raphael's rapier. Cynder circled around to strike from behind, but when she went to attack, Raphael spun on his heel and delivered a solid blow on her cheek with his sword hand, the steel handguard increasing the power of the punch and sending drops of crimson blood into the air from her mouth.

The sight of her blood increased Spyro's rage tenfold. A deafening roar tore itself from his throat, sending a torrent of white-hot Dragon Fire at Raphael. No one harms Cynder and gets away with it! Now if Spyro has any say in the matter!

The attack, however, missed its mark by mear centimeters, as Raphael jumped to the side, his right sleeve smoking black from the flames. Spyro barely had time to cease the raging inferno before dodging another flurry of sword swipes from his adversary.

Once, Spyro dared try and block one attack. His only reward was a wave of excrusiating pain as the rapier tore clean through his magic-protected wing and right into his shoulder near the base of his wing. When Raphael withdrew the sword, he nearly ripped the wing off altogether, but Spyro twisted just enough so the sword was removed cleanly.

_I have to end this, and quickly,_ Spyro thought tiredly.

As Raphael stabbed at Spyro again, the purple dragon was wrapped in green energy, and a split second later was covered in a sphere of earth. Raphael's rapier imbedded itself deep enough into it so that it stuck, no matter how hard Raphael tugged on it. Then the sphere rolled in one direction, and the tip snapped off the rapier like the tip of a quill pressed too hard on parchment.

Suddenly, the sphere exploded, sending chunks and spikes of earth in all directions. The force of Spyro's attack threw Raphael down the street, landing on the outside of the ramshackle village.

Spyro stood panting and drained from the energy required for such a powerful attack. After a few moments he slowly moved toward his downed foe. He limped as pain shot through him from his shoulder where Raphael had stabbed him everytime he put his weight on his right forepaw, but he ignored it.

"You've gone...quiet," he growled between gasps, having covered half the distance. "What's wrong...huh? Run out of...out of insults...to throw at us?"

He was about to charge a fireball when a hand clasped his left shoulder. Spyro turned his head to see that Link had woken and halted his advance.

"That's enough, Spyro," he said calmly. Spyro was surprised to find no trace of anger in the human's eyes anymore.

Raphael stirred. - Weither the groans were from pain or from exhaustion, Spyro didn't know. - At first, he struggled simply to sit up, but eventually made it to his feet, panting. Spyro expected him to attack again, but instead of Raphael's sword, it was his voice that met him.

"You've...got some skill, dragon. I should have expected as much, as you are _the_ Purple Dragon told of in the legends, are you not?"

Spyro hadn't been expecting this at all. Weren't the tales of the Purple Dragon only known in the Dragon Realms? How could Raphael have known? He can't Planeswalk...can he?

Link changed the subject. "Enough of this, Raphael! What is Nightmare planing?"

"Tch! Damned if I know, he never tells me anything but what to do!"

"Don't lie, 'Blade-Dancer!'" Spyro snapped. "You're obviously his closest servant if he trusts you do get rid of us!"

Raphael chuckled. "You're not as naive as you look, dragon." He closed his eyes for a second while shaking his head. "He possesses a fragment of Soul Edge. More, thanks to you. In other words, he's the closest to finding Soul Edge." He then turned to leave.

"Hold it!" Spyro shouted. "If he's the closest to finding Soul Edge, then why is he looking here?"

Raphael laughed "He's not a fool. He knows Soul Edge isn't here. He came here to gain the power to destroy the gates. It is said that the key to the gates is the spirit sword, Soul Calibur." - Link's eyes narrowed. - "But no one knows where that is." - Link's expression relaxed slightly. - "So he thought of a way to pass the gates without the key. It's a bit of a gamble, of course."

He resumed his departing walk. "Until we meet again, Link, Purple Dragon..." and he disappeared into the distant wasteland.

Spyro waited for several minutes to make sure he was gone before turning to his friends.

"Is anyone hurt?" Spyro asked.

"Do we have to answer?" Flame, who had ragained conciousness, answered.

After seeing the extent of their injuries, Spyro concluded that he and Link had suffered the more serious wounds; Flame had a bruise on his right temple benieth his paw, turning his scales there blue; Ember was unharmed, having never engaged; Cynder's mouth bled slightly, and one of her cheeks were swollen; Link had several wounds on his sides and chest, each still bleeding openly, but not profusely.

Spyro glanced down at the stab wound on his shoulder, and was confused to find no blood flowing from it. In fact, he couldn't even feel his shoulder. Had Raphael's sword been poisoned? No, it couldn't've been, otherwise Link's wounds wouldn't be bleeding.

"Does it hurt?" Ember asked nervously, nodding at the wound. Spyro shook his head. "Well, I'd better take a look at...AH!"

She screamed in fright as Spyro's adrenaline rush subsided, relaxing his shoulder muscles, and releasing a fountain of blood all over Ember.

"_Now_ it hurts!" Spyro groaned through gritted teeth as he was nearly overwhelmed by the sudden explosion of pain in his shoulder.

Ember's nausea returned, and she threw her head into a nearby barrel. The air was then filled with the sound of her retching.

Cynder ran up to her and tore off her healing necklace before donning it. "Lay down, Spyro!" she shouted. He complied.

Cynder immedeately placed her paw over the wound. The pressure slowed the flow of blood, but didn't stop it entirely. She activated the necklase, and its healing energy flowed into Spyro's shoulder. It itched so badly he could barely stop himself from trying to scratch it.

After what seemed like hours, the itching finally stopped, Ember's necklace finally stopped glowing, and Cynder finally relaxed. Spyro glanced down at his shoulder to find the wound sealed closed, a thin line of his scales a noticibly brighter shade of purple where the wound once was. His wing membrane was also healed, lines of dried blood running down from where it was punctured.

He let out a sigh of relief. "Thanks for the save, Cynder."

She removed the necklace with an exhausted expression before nodding.

Ember walked up shakily. Having gotten over her fit, she snatched up her necklace from where Cynder had dropped it, and put it on.

"Ember..." Cynder panted. "I'm sorry...for...taking your...necklace..."

"It's alright, Cynder," the pink dragoness said, her voice shaky. "Just, try not to strangle me next time, please?"

"I'll try." Cynder glanced at the necklace. "Why did draw on _my_ energy, I thought it had the energy already in it?"

"'Had' being the key word," Ember said while wiping Spyro's blood off her face. "It can only use so much energy before it needs another source of power. I already exhausted most of it after our battle with Nightmare."

"How do you keep using it, then?" Cynder asked.

"I make sure to put some excess energy back into it every day. It just takes a lot of energy to heal even minor wounds for those with little experience using it, even me."

Because the necklace was drained of power, they had to use some green mana gems to power it enough to heal the more serious of Link's wounds.

Spyro looked at what spirit gems they had left, and his face turned to a frown. They were already down to half their original supply of red and green gems.

"This isn't good," he said more to himself than anyone in particular.

"Why are you worried about these gems?" Link asked.

"Spirit gems are the very lifeblood of our race," Cynder said. "We only brought so many from our world, agreeing only to use them in emergencies."

"And here we are, with only half our original supply," Flame added grumpily. "And probably not even half way through this world yet! Why _shouldn't _we worry about the gems!"

"Because I've seen gem clusters just like those in this world," Link answered, surprising the four dragons. "You're not going to run out if you look hard enough."

"Phew!" Ember sighed in relief. "Now I don't have to keep using my necklace whenever _someone_ gets a simple scratch." She inclined her head in Flame's direction, and he narrowed his eyes at her.

Spyro and Cynder looked at each other. She bore the same surprised expression he did. _There are spirit gems in this world, too?_ he asked her with his mind, not trusting his mouth to put the words together.

_I don't know,_ she answered. _I guess it makes sense, considering that dragons inhabit this world too._

As they broke contact, Spyro felt a pang of concern from Cynder. Though he didn't know, she had looked into his thoughts and had caught a glimpse of the nightmares he'd been having every night since arriving in this world. She didn't press, though, and Spyro reluctantly shrugged the feeling off.

Spyro glanced around the village quickly. Oddly enough, they were just shuffling around just like they had when they first entered the village, as if they weren't there. When Spyro mentioned this to the others, they were equally confused.

"You'd think we'd have attracted some attention," Flame said. "Or at least a small_ glance!_"

Link's eyes narrowed. "Something's not right..." He walked up to one of the villagers, whose ribs were showing even through the shirt he wore. He made to put his hand on the skeletal man's shoulder. They all gasped at what happened then: his hand passed right through the man's body!

"What the hell!" Flame exclaimed.

"It's an illusion!" Link shouted, drawing Soul Calibur once again. He swung at one of the ramshackle houses, only for the blade to pass through unhindered. "This whole place is an illusion!"

No sooner than he said the words did the entire village flicker and disappear, leaving behind only the desolate landscape of Rigel, and startling everyone.

"What's going on, Flame!" Ember whimpered.

"Hell if I know!" he answered.

"Let's get out of-" Spyro was cut off by a dark, familiar laugh ringing through the air. Spyro searched around for its owner, until finally his eyes fell upon the one whom they had been following.

"Nightmare!"

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><p><strong>Well, there's the Raphael fight in Rigel. And now you all can probably guess what's going to happen next. If not, I promise not to make you wait a month for the next chapter. <strong>

**As I mentioned in my last few chapters, I appreciate reviews, positive and negative, and I will take any criticism on the long wait with out complaint. As I said at the beginning of the chapter, I am deeply sorry.**

**PS: For those of you who were confused, this is still the same story by Spyro95. I just changed my penname to Solaro the Watcher. I have intentions on putting Solaro into a story later on, and I will put a biography for him on my profile when I do.**

**Again, sorry for the wait. I promise not to make you wait that long again. See you in, hopefully, _LESS_ than a month this time. **


	17. Chapter 16: Fiery Foe

**Hello everybody. Hope you all got the notice I put at the end of my previous chapter. I'm sorry if I confused anybody with the name change, and I hope I didn't confuse you too much.  
>Anyway, time to pick up where I left off. Beware, you might find this chapter to be on the short side. (PS: I suggest you open a second tap or window, go to youtube, and look for an extended version of Hellfire. The name of the chapter should explain why.)<strong>

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><p>Chapter 16: Fiery Foe<p>

"So, you've finally come. I believe I saw you at Mizar." Though Nightmare's eyes were barely visible from under his helmet, Spyro could just make out their glow slowly brightening as the Dark Knight slowly opened them.

Other than Ember, who whimpered and hid behind Flame, Spyro and the others got into their battle stances. Spyro noticed something in Nightmare's voice; it seemed louder, despite the distance between them. It also sounded more commanding, if that was even possible.

"I assume you've come to stop me?" Nightmare continued. "Well, you're too late."

Suddenly, Spyro felt a powerful aura, almost par with the one enemy Spyro had hoped to forget, emanate from Nightmare's body.

"What are you up to, Nightmare?" Link demanded, only recieving an evil chuckle for a response.

"Now that I've acquired the power to break the seal, I have no reason to stay here any longer. But I have a feeling you'll be a nuisance later if I let you five live. So..." Nightamre held out his demonic hand, revealing several pulsing metal shards. Before anyone could think about anything else, the shards hovered in the air before imbeding themselves in the ground at his feet in a flash.

The sudden fluxuation of energy nearly sent Spyro to the ground as he staggered against the sudden flow. _What in the world!_ Orange-red cracks suddenly appeared in the ground, spreading from the shards. Then they suddenly disappeared into the cracks.

The ground around where the shards had been burst open, releasing a large mass of flame. Spyro and the others reeled, staring at the mass as it slowly began to take shape. Before their eyes, the formless mass of fire had transformed into a skeletal creature nearly twice Nightmare's hieght, covered in those same flames!

Spyro gasped in horror when he recognized the elemental as the monster from his nightmares. _So the shard _wasn't_ messing with my head!_ he thought, taking an involuntary step backward. Cynder noticed his movement, and he could feel her fear mix with concern for him as she heard his thoughts.

Nightmare chuckled. "This pet was born from the few fragments of Soul Edge you saw...a mere piece of its total power. Isn't it appropriate that your lives be put to an end by the very power you long sought after?"

Spyro snapped out of his trance at the sound of the Dark Knight's voice, and again prepared himself for the fight. The massive Infurno did as well, drawing what appeared to be a flaming sword in the likeness of Soul Edge, before charging at them. The battle was on!

Infurno brandished its flaming sword, swinging it diagonally at Spyro with one hand with such speed and ease it might as well had been a part of its arm. Spyro couldn't do anything to stop the attack, but luckily Link managed to slam his shield into its path before countering with a sword swing of his own that would have sliced the guts out of any other being. Instead it bounced off the creature's bones, which rang metallically.

Cynder had dived into her shadow at this point, and rose up from underneath the creature, raking it with her claws and tail blade, only resulting in dulling said weapons slightly and singing her anklets. Flame had literally zero luck as he was caught in the chest by Infurno's backswing, sending him tumbling into Ember, and knocking them both out.

Spyro fired an earth missile, but it too bounced off Infurno's chest. The purple dragon thought he had done no damage whatsoever, but in the split second it took him to think that, the creature roared in pain. Then he noticed a slight crack in the bone in the center of its chest.

Spyro got an idea. No sooner than he thought it, the creature roared in frustration and swung with even more speed. Although Spyro was ready this time, and though he and Link were fighting together, they couldn't even land another attack.

After what seemed like the hundredth dodge, Spyro felt the wound in his shoulder spike in pain as the thin layer of scales and skin was torn open from the stress, causing him to wince at just the wrong moment. The flame sword sliced into his side, clean through several ribs, sending him flying for fifty yards, landing ungracefully on his wounded shoulder, and spattering the new flow of blood over the ground.

Link looked in horror at his friend's limp form before Infurno grabbed him by his tunic and threw him straight up into the air. It positioned its sword just so that Link would land right on the tip, the blade most definitely skewering him if he landed on it. However, Ember jumped up and headbutted him as he bagan descending, sending them both tumbling several yards away from the creature.

Cynder then attempted to subdue it with her Fear power, but it had no effect. Infurno rounded on her, and she thought she could feel its burning gaze as it swung its flaming sword again. She dodged the blade with inches to spare. Focusing her Poison in her tail, she stabbed the creature in its sword arm. The venom had only a split second to flow before the heat from the flames forced Cynder to remove her tail before she burned herself.

The Infurno clutched its poisoned arm, which was glowing a noxious green from the venom. As Cynder made to strike it again, the beast growled in frustration before swatting her down with an open, boney hand. She landed mere feet away, unconcious.

When Spyro stirred again, he felt the immense pain in his shoulder and side, both of which bled openly. As he glanced around the battlefield, he felt his heart sink as he saw all his friends down and out. Then he looked at Infurno to see it pick Cynder up by the scruff of her neck, and his anger sparked.

Ignoring the pain, he forced himself to stand up. As he did so, Infurno glanced over its shoulder at him, apparently surprised that he was still alive. Spyro closed his eyes and rose up, hovering a foot off the ground, focusing in his mouth his ultimate energy, one that he had hoped not to need again for the rest of his life. Infurno dropped Cynder and turned to him, raising its blade in a defensive stance. After a few more seconds, Spyro released the attack.

The Convexity beam shot straight through the sword and struck the demon in its chest. Flailing and screeching in pain, Infurno could do nothing before the beam bursting out the creature's back. When Spyro couldn't sustain the beam any longer, he closed his mouth, landing softly on the ground.

The Infurno rose into the air, still flailing and screaming, now with a gaping hole in its chest. After a few more seconds, its screech reached an ear-piercing point. The flames then dimmed before it exploded. Five small shards fell to the ground, landing all in relatively the same spot.

Spyro stood panting for a few minutes before taking a step. As he put his paw down, his vision blurred and the world span. Exhaustion finally taking its toll, Spyro fell onto his belly. The last sound he heard and the last thing he saw was Cynder screaming his name, and Link limping in his direction, a mixed look of fear and pain in his eyes. Then all was black...

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><p>Spyro sat staring at the shards of Soul Edge in his paw. He could feel the evil aura radiating from them every time they pulsed.<p>

He had woken nearly an hour before to Ember using a combination of their red gems and her healing necklase to keep Spyro from bleeding out. She had tied a bandage over her snout to prevent her from vomiting, though she had looked ready to do just that at any second. She couldn't rely on the gems entirely when she couldn't sustain the necklase anymore; using them too much is just as bad as relying entirely on green gams with no food: your making your body work harder without properly nourishing it. So too was true with red. If used too much, they could create more serious problems than the wound you're trying to heal.

When the gems reached their safety limit, Link had used a spell to repair Spyro's broken ribs and severed veins before wrapping the purple dragon's side and shoulder with some bandages from his bag.

They had considered Spyro's injuries the more serious, and had tended him first. When they felt he was stable, they tended to their injuries. He had prefered if they not worry so much about him, but there was nothing he could do about it now.

Cynder sat down beside him. "Are you going to be alright?"

Spyro chuckled half-heartedly. "That's the third time you've asked, Cynder, and the answer hasn't changed: yes."

There was a short pause before Cynder said, "So it was that monster that's been keeping you on edge every night."

Spyro felt a twinge of guilt; he had wanted to tell her ever since his outburst back at the rampart where they met Mitsurugi. But he'd kept silent throughout the whole of their journey so far, a decision he now regretted.

He said nothing for a few minutes, trying to find the right words to say.

"I'm sorry, Cynder," he said. "I thought they would go away, but...they only got worse."

"What exactly do you see in your nightmares?" Cynder asked.

Spyro closed his eyes and racked his memory. "I see you, me, and Link on a burning field," he said as he recalled the nightmares. "A big sword rose from the ground and glowed, giving off an evil aura. That's when I saw the Infurno." He told her every detail of the dreams, the most recent consisting of the first part of a battle between them and the Infurno. He also related the second human lying wounded on the ground. "I think it was Raphael," he said when he remembered the blonde-haired man they had fought not two hours ago.

When he finished, Cynder was silent for a moment, an inquisitive look on her face. "Why didn't you tell me?" she asked, her eyes stirnly trained on his.

He opened his mouth to answer, but his words caught in his throat, rendering him mute. He tried again, but again closed his mouth. Finally, on the third try, he said at length, "I just didn't think I should trouble you with my problems. I thought is was just a nightmare, at the time..." His eyes turned back to the metal fragments in his paw. "I thought it was the shard trying to mess with my head. I didn't think it was an actual premonition, like before..."

Cynder nodded her understanding. "Well," she said. "Looks like it was a combination of both, this time."

Spyro gave a weak chuckle, trying to releive some tension. "Yeah..." His smile vanished a few seconds later. _If even a single shard can do all that, then what can _five_ do? And how can we avoid it? _

When he voiced this to Cynder, she said, "I can't think of anything other than taking turns carrying them. That way, they can't influence any one of us as badly as when _someone _had to carry them all the time!" she inclined her head in his direction and narrowed her eyes in playful accusation.

A few hours later, which consisted of a decently long meal, Flame complaining that he barely had any part in any of the fights so far, and Spyro and Cynder explaining their plan with the shards to the others, they got ready for traveling. Cynder volunteered to be the first one to carry the shards for until they got to the next town.

It was only then that Spyro looked around to realize something was wrong. "Where'd Nightmare go?"

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><p>"Mary, Mother of Draco!" Flame cursed when he saw the sight before them.<p>

They had traversed back to the ruins where they met Yun-Seung. Only, they weren't actually ruins; they hid the second gate sealing Soul Edge, and the gate was destroyed, cut in two by a single sword stroke much like the first had, only this time it was scorched black.

Spyro looked in horror at the ruins - for they were _trully _ruins, now - and was speechless.

Link broke the silence. "We lingered in Rigel for too long. These scorch marks aren't exactly fresh."

Snapping out of his trance, Spyro looked frantically around for any signs of survivors. "Where's Yun-Seung!"

Link closed his eyes and whispered something in the foreign language. He pointed and said, "There."

They ran over to where Link had indicated: a pile of still steaming rubble. Spyro breathed Ice over it to cool it before they worked together to move the boulders. When the last one was moved, Spyro closed his eyes and looked away slowly.

There, steam still hissing from it, was the black, burnt remains of a young human, the blade of Yun-Seong's scimitar charred black in the figure's hand.

"Damn..." Spyro whispered more to himself. A shiver went down Ember's spine as she averted her gaze from the corpse; Link and Cynder mirror's Spyro, closing their eyes and turning their heads.

"He never stood a chance..." the human whispered.

Only Flame seemed undisturbed. "Serves him right, he was a total..."

He never got to finish his sentence, as Ember slapped him in the back of his head with her heart-shaped tail blade, and Link grasped the hilt of Soul Calibur in warning.

After a few minutes, Spyro tore himself from the remains. His attention turned to the large hole in the stone wall, and his expression turned to a vengeful glare.

"C'mon," he said, his voice full of anger. "If we don't catch up to Nightmare, that could be _all_ our worlds."

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><p><strong>Cut and scene! I tried to make this battle a little longer than the previous ones, and I thought this would be the perfect time for Spyro to reveal his Convexity element. I mean, it seems like only Convexity can match the power of Soul Edge! Especially 5 shards of the thing!<strong>

**Anywho, thank you for reading thus far! I appreciate reviews, good and bad. Everything helps. **

**And I'll be putting this out there: I just got some updates on three stories I'm reading, so I'll be taking a few days off from writing. I hope I don't take too long like I did last time...**

**See you all in a week or two, maybe three!**


	18. Chapter 17: Rebels of Merak

**I'm back! And I've noticed that I haven't gotten a lot of reviews lately: none, actually...Have I lost all my fans? If not, then please send me a review so I can continue on without any anxiety! **

**But, enough yappin'! Let's get this story back on the road!**

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><p>Chapter 17: Rebels of Merak<p>

After only five minutes of walking, the group came upon a vast landscape. According to Link's maps, they should have arrived at the holy land of Merak. But the landscape was far from the idea of a holy land as anyone could imagine. The entire area was awash with signs of destruction; craters of black ash littered the ground, bridges and roadways were destroyed, and pillars of black smoke rose on the horizon.

Spyro and the others stopped as soon as the land came into view, utterly horrified by the scene that lay before them. Even the forbidden grounds of Rigel weren't this bad.

"Yeah, this place is holy, _totally!_" Sparx said sarcastically. "Tch! The big old, fungus-filled temple back home was holier than this place!"

Normally, Spyro would've said something. However, due to his shock, he didn't even register his brother's voice.

_Is this all Nightmare's doing?_

"We'd better get moving," Link broke the silence, Soul Calibur in hand. "The longer we stay here gawking, the closer Nightmare gets to completing Soul Edge. Then the entire Multiverse will look like this."

"Gee, that's encouraging," Sparx muttered, this time earning an annoyed glare from his brother.

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><p>"Jeez!" Flame said between gasps for air. "Don't those...people know...when...when to...to listen?"<p>

"Apparently not," Sparx retorted, just as exhausted.

They had taken to paying a visit the other day to a place called Sirius, the City in the Sky. The place once possessed the characteristic beauty of all highland dwellings, but no trace of that image had remained. The main street, the tree-lined roads, the very buildings themselves, all lay in ruin, as if sliced apart by giant blades. Upon seeing this, Spyro couldn't help but whisper that Nightmare seemed to bring destruction wherever he went.

It was a mistake to mention his name inside the city. Everyone who had had their lives suddenly shattered turned their gaze upon the group. They tried to tell them that they were no friend of the Dark Knight, but they didn't listen. Link was forced to draw his weapon in self-defense, and the others all got into nervous battle stances, but that served only to anger the citizens more.

The resulting battle was far from easy. The city had such a high elevation that it was hard to breath, so they had needed to escape more than they needed to fight. Even with the dragons carrying Link together, they still had to dodge and weave to avoid arrows from the archers. After landing at the very edge of the city, they took to sliding down a smooth slope on the mountainside. They'd been running ever since - a just as exhausting trek, even with the more dense air of the lower altitudes.

They had stopped to rest only when the mountain was barely visible. Luckily, the place they stopped at was by a cluster of green and red spirit gems. They had broken several chunks' off, replenishing their stock, and were now using the remaining gems to heal the minor wounds they had suffered, as well as regaining some of their strength. As Link couldn't use the spirit gems, he instead reached into his bag and pulled out a corked bottle containing a green liquid, which he quickly drank.

"What is that stuff?" Ember asked, her nose wrinkling as she caught the musty scent the liquid gave off.

Link finished gulping the last of it down before replacing the cork. "A substance found only back in my home plane," he said with more energy than his exhaustion made out. "I've only ever heard it called 'Green Potion'." Everyone gave him a bewildered look, to which he added, "It's similar to the green gems of your world."

"Oh," they all nodded in partial understanding.

"Not exactly the best-tasting beverage in the world," Link continued. "but useful in a pinch."

He then pulled out two more bottles, one containing a red liquid, the other blue. "Red potion acts like your red gems, healing any wounds in an instant. The blue potion, the most powerful potion I've come across, does the work of both green and red."

Cynder gazed at the potions, giving them each a curious sniff. "How are they made?"

Link shrugged. "Beats me. The Hyrulian potion makers are very strict about keeping the process a secret."

"Hmm...Someday, I _have_ to visit your world," Cynder said, mirroring Spyro's thoughts.

* * *

><p>The next day, they continued eastward through the ruined fields of the once-beautifullandofMerak. They occasionally came across the burnt corpse of an unfortunate human, or the skeleton of a deer.<p>

They had been walking for almost an hour. Spyro continued to look around in absolute horror at the destruction Nightmare had wreaked on the region. He had known that Soul Edge as a whole was almost par in strength with the last evil he had vanquished - he pushed the memory of a certain purple dragon aside - but he couldn't have imagined that merely a handful of shards could be _this_ dangerous.

Something glinted to the right, and Spyro looked to see something metal reflecting what little sunlight there was. His heart sank as he turned his head to find the body of a fallen dragon. Judging from the brown-green scales and moderately-sized muscular frame, this dragon was a male earth dragon in his prime. He looked similar to a younger Terrador, with a massive mace at the end of his tail, wearing silver armor stained crimson with blood from a stab wound in his neck.

"Spyro?"

The purple dragon didn't hear Cynder's voice, nor the sound of paws and boots crunching across the charred grass toward him. He did hear the others's gasps of horror as they saw the corpse. Flame stood wide-eyed as he beheld the fallen dragon; Ember gagged at the sight of the blood staining the dragon's armor; Link lowered his head.

Spyro barely responded when Cynder draped her wing over his shoulder for comfort. He felt her mind brush against his, and they connected.

_I know what you're thinking, Spyro,_ she told him. _It wasn't your fault._

_I know, Cynder,_ he replied. _I just can't shake off this feeling..._he paused. _To think that Nightmare could murder a dragon in his prime, and with such ease..._

The black dragoness placed her paw over his as she sat down. "We'll get him," she assured him.

"We better do it soon," Flame snorted. "I'm almost at the end of my patience for another rematch!"

"Don't be so eager to rush into a battle, Flame," Link said.

"Yeah," Sparx said. "Remember the last, oh I dunno, _five_ times you just charged in? Ya got..."

The fire dragon silenced him with a warning snarl. "You do NOT want to finish that sentence!" Sparx mumbled something under his breath, but did nothing to argue.

"We better keep moving," Link said after another minute of silence. "We've lingered here too long."

Reluctantly, Spyro tore his gaze from the fallen dragon. After Link said a few words in the same foreign language over the body, they continued eastward.

* * *

><p>During the whole two-hour walk, Spyro's thoughts kept turning back to the fallen earth dragon they found. The last thing he had wanted to see was one of his own kind die, when only a few years ago they were almost an endangered species on the Dragon Realms. He wanted nothing more than to stop Nightmare, before he could harm anyone else.<p>

The entire trek was in silence, until Sparx spoke up.

"Hey, guys. What's that?" he asked, pointing just off the trail.

They all looked, and sure enough there was something there. It was barely visible due to the smoke of a nearby fire, but Spyro could just make out the roof of a building.

"Looks like Nightmare didn't destroy every town he came across," Link said. "That or he just missed this one."

"Either way, it's a good place to rest," Cynder said.

When they got to the town's gate, none of them were surprised to find that the place wasn't entirely unscathed; the gate was damaged beyond repair, several scorch marks lining the outside, and multiple wooden boards hanging by a single nail each; the buildings near the outside were all destroyed, the few that weren't were barely holding together.

"Maybe Nightmare _didn't_ pass by this town," Link corrected himself.

At the mention of the Dark Knight's name, they were suddenly surrounded by a large group of humans clad in armor and helmets, wielding shields and spears. They didn't even have time to react before they each had at least three spearheads pressed against each of their throats.

"Don't move!" one of them ordered.

"Tch! Like we have any choice!" Flame blurted.

One of the soldiers put just enough more pressure on his spear to make the fire dragon flinch.

"One more word and your blood will stain the ground!" the soldier barked, receiving nothing more than a glare and a curled lip from Flame.

Spyro's eyes flicked from one soldier to another, trying to find some kind of emotion. The only one he could think of was a combination of fear and focus. He could just see Cynder out of the corner of his eyes, her face bearing a frightened expression.

"Fetch the commander!" someone shouted, and one of the soldiers broke off and sprinted down the street. A few minutes later, he returned with another man, this one helmetless.

Spyro's eyes widened as he recognized who he was looking at. The bald head and purple eyes were dead giveaways.

"Gerrard!" He winced as all three of the spears at his neck twitched warningly.

His call didn't go unheard, and the commander's eyes flashed when he saw them. "Spyro! Link!"

"Sir?" one of the soldiers said confusedly. "You know these people?"

"They helped me defend the fortress of Altair. Lower your weapons, all of you!" They obeyed, and Gerrard pushed his way through. "Never thought you lot would make it this far, but it seems I've been proven wrong."

"Yeah, long time no see, pal," Sparx buzzed. "It's just too bad your little welcoming comity was here to give everybody a bad first impression."

"I understand, and I apologize," Gerrard said. "We've had so many run-ins with Nightmare's supporters that we don't know who to trust."

"Well, what're you doing all the way out here in Merak?" Link asked. "I thought you said you had to guard Altair?"

"So I did. But shortly after you left for, Master Umaroth asked me to take a few battalions out here to assist you in the fighting."

As Gerrard said this, Spyro suddenly recognized many of the armored men as Altairian soldiers who had been atop the fortress during their visit.

"We acquired quite a bit of support along the way," Gerrard continued, motioning to the soldiers who wore different armor from the Altairians. "The people of Merak aren't about to let Nightmare walk all over them. And I think we all want to rid the world of that cursed sword Soul Edge once and for all."

_Boy, isn't that the truth._ Spyro and Cynder thought simultaneously. Spyro thought he felt the five shards vibrate in his satchel for a second.

"Well, what're we standing out here jawing for?" a young man - Will - said. "If I remember correctly, sir, you were in the middle of a war meeting when I found you."

"Yes, and I think you five" - Gerrard indicated Spyro, Cynder, Flame, Ember, and Link - "should be included in our planning, since you've had experience fighting Nightmare, from what I hear tell amongst a few villagers."

He and Will led them further into the town. The interior, for the most part, had managed to be relatively undamaged when compared to the gate and outer houses. The residents of the town seemed to consist entirely of Altairian and Merak soldiers, along with several battalions worth of dragons - for which Spyro was very thankful.

After passing a particular building that looked like it was once a shop, a familiar, accented voice rang through the air. "_OY!_" and a fire dragon jumped down from the shop's roof, landing in a crouch right in front of Ember.

"It's about time you lot got here!" he said in mock annoyance as he stood up.

"Blaze!" Ember and Cynder said simultaneously.

A split second later, Spyro smiled as he recognized the fire dragon who had shown them around Benetnach. Flame just let out a low growl, likely because he remembered the way Blaze had flirted with Ember only a second after laying eyes on her.

"When did you get here?" Spyro asked.

"Shortly after you left for the gate," the fire dragon answered. "I figured I'd help out any way I could."

_It's almost as if everyone we know in this world is converging for a final confrontation against our enemy,_ Spyro sent his thought to Cynder and Link. They agreed.

"Plus, you still didn't quite answer my questions fully, and I'm not one you wanna leave without answers." Blaze added with an accusing cock of his eyebrow.

Spyro hesitated as he tried to remember exactly what was asked in Benetnach. "Uh...what was the question?"

"Ugh..." Blaze whispered something, but Spyro couldn't quite hear it - something about despising forgetful people. "My question was, 'where are you from?'"

Again, Spyro faltered as he felt Blaze's suspicion grow. Cynder saved him from answering.

"I thought we told you, we're from just west of Regulus."

"Tch! Regulus, HA!" Blaze barked. "That ain't gonna work on me a second time, Cynder! I know that the only thing west of Regulus is the ocean, and then the edge of the world comes after that! I only bought it once 'cause I was just caught up in that shard you lot had!" He paused, then added with a whisper, "You still have it, right?"

"Yeah," Sparx answered with a warning tone. "and we still wanna keep that bit _secret!_"

Blaze nodded. "Anyway, where are you four from, _really_?"

"Oh, sure! Leave out the little guy, as usual!" Sparx's complaint was ignored by all but himself.

Spyro locked minds with Cynder. _We gotta tell him._

_I don't see any alternative, _she said.

Spyro hesitated for a few seconds, trying to find the right words to say. "We're not from Regulus," he began in a low voice.

Blaze rolled his eyes. "Well, _that_ much is obvious," he said in an impatient tone.

Spyro exchanged glances with the others before looking Blaze in the eye. "We're from another world," he said at length.

At first, Blaze merely raised his eyebrow even farther. Then suddenly, he burst into laughter. "Another world! Hahahahahaha! Good one!" He continued his laughing rant for another minute, when Spyro cleared his throat. When Blaze saw the look on the purple dragon's face, his smile vanished. "You...you're serious?"

Spyro nodded. "I understand if you don't believe me, but it's the truth."

Blaze stood looking bewildered for a few minutes, during which no one who had heard the conversation said anything. After a while, Spyro was beginning to think that Blaze would just outright call him a liar. His worry was proved false when the firebreather suddenly bore his once-famed energetic and friendly expression.

"I had a feeling it was something to that effect," he said. "I've heard rumors from some of the older travelers in here that there was another world populated almost entirely by dragons. I always took them to be just the rants of humans who'd gone mad in the wild, but now I think that it's that world where the legend of the Purple Dragon began."

Spyro was about to respond when Gerrard cleared his throat. "I thought we were on our way to the war council, Spyro."

"Right, sorry."

When Blaze made to follow, Gerrard stopped him.

"I already told you, Blaze," the human scolded. "you're not allowed in the council."

"What about them, though?" Blaze indicated Spyro and the others. "How come they get to go?"

"They have information that could prove invaluable to the war effort," Gerrard said. "Plus, it's because of them that we're even fighting this war."

Suddenly, Spyro felt uncomfortable. He still wasn't used to being raised above others back in the Dragon Realms, and certainly not by humans. _I guess I'll just have to deal with it until this is all over,_ he thought.

Blaze wanted to argue further, but merely fell silent. Gerrard motioned for the others to follow, and they continued. As Spyro passed Blaze, he cast an apologetic glance in his direction, earning a half-smile.

Only a few blocks down, they arrived at a large building with absolutely no damage, and Spyro thought it was large enough to fit a dragon three times Terrador's size with room for more! Four humans and two dragons stood guard at a huge door. When they saw Gerrard approaching, they each stood aside so he could pass.

"Let these five in as well," he said, motioning toward Spyro, Cynder, Flame, Ember, and Link. The guards nodded, and they entered the large building.

The place was made entirely of wood and large windows on the outside, but inside all Spyro could see was marble and stained-glass, giving it an appearance almost identical to the temple in Altair, only the mural of windows alternated between dragons and humans in each one. The entire building was one large chamber, about half the size of the Atrium of Warfang, but somehow their footsteps didn't echo. In the center of the chamber sat a large table, surrounded by several humans in leather and/or metal armor and a few dragons either in their prime or just after, some also armored.

However, Spyro only had eyes for one particular dragon laying on the right-hand side of the group, with gleaming white scales, a scar over his left eye, and his left forelimb missing.

Spyro couldn't stop himself before he called out, "Umaroth!"

The elder dragon turned his head in their direction, and a smile was visible on his face as he beheld them. "Good to see you again, Spyro!"

It took a few extra seconds, due to the size of the room, but they reached the center of the room. Some of the commanders were surprised they had visitors; others were affronted by the apparent disregard for the rules.

"Gerrard! You know better!"

"Only officers are allowed in war councils!"

"Who are these people?"

Spyro was about to answer the last question, but a low rumble came from Umaroth's throat, silencing them all.

"Peace, my fellow commanders," he said, his deep voice sounding even more commanding than Spyro had thought possible from a dragon his age. "It is alright for them to be here."

"With all due respect, Master Umaroth," said one of the dragons - an ice dragon, from his blue scales and icicle-like spines - with a very noticeable indignant edge in his voice. "You were perfectly clear that only officers were allowed in here while a meeting is convened. Why do you recant now, and for a human boy and four hatchlings?"

"Hatchlings?" Flame barked. "It's been sixteen years since I hatched, thank you very much!"

The ice dragon looked taken aback, before his expression hardened. "How dare you speak to me with such disrespect!" Spyro suddenly realized that this dragon sounded almost identical to Cyril back home.

"Disrespect! YOU'RE the one who called us hatchlings!" Flame countered, receiving a slap in the back of his head from Ember's tail spade.

"Flame, you have GOT to learn to shut your mouth when you get thoughts like that in your head!" she snapped. "Every time you argue with an adult, you get yourself either locked in your room or a big bruise on your temple!" Flame sighed in defeat. He shot the ice dragon a dark glare before hanging his head in shame and stepping back.

"Now, to answer your question, Commander Cryos," Umaroth rumbled. "These young dragons and this human are the reason we are even here to fight this war."

"What in the name of the Ancestors are you talking about?" Cryos looked completely confused.

"Oh, in the name of...!" Gerrard groaned. "How ignorant can a single dragon be? Do you not remember Umaroth and I describing to everyone here about a Purple Dragon and his friends who had survived an encounter with Nightmare?"

"You never told us anything!" the ice dragon yelled indignantly.

"Oh, ye Gods!" an iron-clad human groaned from across the table. "You don't know because you hardly ever show up to any meetings! And you tend to miss important details when you're absent!" Cryos shifted his paws uncomfortably.

Spyro and the others watched the argument with amused surprise, eyes wide and each with an eyebrow cocked (save for Flame, who still hung behind Ember with a shameful expression). Somewhere above Spyro, Sparx let out an audible snort of laughter.

"And what is so amusing, young dragonfly?" Cryos demanded.

"Uh, you guys!" Sparx answered. "The way you guys argue back and forth bitterly as old men, I just get a crack out of it!" He received an icy glare from the ice dragon, and he quickly added, "No offense intended." Immediately he disappeared behind Spyro's horn.

Cryos shook his head disapprovingly. "Is he always like this?" he asked them.

"Worse," Spyro answered. ("Hey!" Sparx said indignantly.)

"Ok, we're getting off topic!" an unarmored earth dragon said interrupted, his voice just an octave higher than Terrador's.

"Yes, I believe introductions are in order," Umaroth agreed with a nod. "Young ones?"

The five introduced themselves, for what seemed like the hundredth time. As usual, they kept mum as to their true origins, and Umaroth said nothing on the matter either.

"Very well," the earth dragon said when they were finished. "I am General Graphos. Those you see here are the commanders of the resistance force against Nightmare." He began naming them off individually.

"Commander Wes Lombardi," an average-size man wearing leather greaves, bracers, and breastplate, a sword slung over his shoulder in its scabbard.

"Lieutenant Joseph O'Donnell," A heavy-set man with short black hair, clad from head to toe in solid steel armor, leaning on the hilt of a spiked mace, with a large tower shield strapped to his back.

"Some call me 'Iron-Hide Joe,'" he said haughtily. ("It's actually steel, but we let him have the nickname," Wes whispered.)

"General Leon Wolfheart," Graphos continued, indicating the man who had spoken out against Cryos.

"Captain William Tyak," the boy who had helped them in Altair, clad in his Altairian silver armor, who gave them a smile and a wave.

"Admiral Infurnus," a large fire dragon in his late prime, wearing silver dragon armor with gold inlaying.

"You've already met Commander Cryos." The ice dragon gave a gruff nod before turning to the map on the table.

"And I'm sure you're already familiar with Commander Gerrard Capashen, and Supreme Admiral Umaroth."

Spyro was slightly surprised. "'Supreme Admiral?' You mean you're going to be in the fighting?"

The white dragon nodded. "I organized this army, after all," he explained. "Everyone believes it's only fitting that I lead them in this war." Spyro had to agree on that.

"Now, on to business," General Leon said. "I'm sure you lot aren't here just to sit around chatting, right?"

Spyro nodded. Before he could ask as to the status of the army, Gerrard stepped up.

"Spyro, I know you and your friends have had a long journey and would very much like a rest," he said. "But we need to know everything you know, and we need to know it now."

Spyro and the others exchanged glances. "It's a long story..."

* * *

><p><strong>And I'll call 'Cut!' here. Not much action, but I think I put in enough last chapter. <strong>

**Alright! Heroes come together! Gerrard, Will, and Umaroth are back, along with several other OCs! A total of five humans and four dragons. And I just _had _to put in someone called "Iron-Hide". If you watch Transformers, you can tell who I got the nickname from. (Full credit to Hasbro for it.) And as for Gerrard Capashen, that name goes to Wizards of the Coast for one of their characters, for all you old-school Magic the Gathering players. And once again, Umaroth belongs solely** **to Christopher Paolini, author of the Eragon series.**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the filler, and I appreciate reviews, positive and negative. Everything helps. **

**I should have the next chapter in towards the end of the month, or within the first week of May. If I take longer, I apologize. **

**See you next time!**


	19. Chapter 18: War Council

Chapter 18: War Council

Spyro and his friends explained their quest up to this point, intentionally leaving out that they were all from two other worlds. Most of what they said was already known to them, from Gerrard and Umaroth describing what they knew.

When they mentioned that their objective was to destroy Soul Edge, Commander Cryos instantly scoffed. "And were you put up to this task by someone, or did you come on your own?"

"We were sent," the four dragons answered simultaneously.

"Hmm...And you?" Cryos addressed Link.

"I took up this task on my own free will," the human answered. "I met up with these young dragons along the way."

"Hmph! And who would be mad enough to send four young dragons nowhere near their prime on such an impossible task?"

"Our masters!" they all shouted simultaneously.

"No one insults our masters like that!" Flame snapped, stepping forward. "I may not like them very much, but I still won't stand for them being called senile!"

"I would very much like to know exactly who your master are, young ones," Cryos said in a matter-of-factly tone. "Then I can judge exactly how sane they really are!"

Suddenly, they fell silent, exchanging reluctant glances with each other. If they reveal the names of the guardians, the council would get suspicious. Volteer, Cyril, and Terrador are completely unknown in the Soul Void.

_How do we answer _that _question? _Spyro asked himself.

Cryos instantly caught their hesitation, and gave them a suspicious look with a raised brow. "Where are you all from?"

Spyro nearly bit his tongue. One look at Cryos told Spyro that he was an artist at spotting liars, so lying to him wouldn't do any good. But at the same time, they couldn't tell the truth about the other worlds. There was no way out of this tangle.

"You wouldn't believe us if we told you, Commander," Spyro said at length, using the ice dragon's rank so as to avoid addressing him by name.

"Hmph! Try me!"

After getting Cynder's agreement via their mental link, Spyro relented and answered, "We're from another world."

Cryos's reaction was exactly as Spyro had anticipated: the ice dragon burst out laughing. "I expected you to lie there, but I never dreamed you'd come up with something so outlandish to say that there are other _worlds!_" And he continued laughing.

The air shook with the force of Umaroth's snarling growl directed at Cryos, and everyone in the room jumped in fright and took at least a half dozen steps away from him. (Who could blame them? The first time you see an angry dragon that size express its displeasure up close, it isn't a pleasant sight.) When the Old One spoke, his voice was heavy with irritation.

"Once again, Commander Cryos, your failure to attend a meeting has led you to know little to nothing of what the other officers here know!" The white dragon's threatening tone, combined with his sheer size, left Cryos leaning down on his front paws with his chin pressed against the marble floor in a feeble position, much like a wolf would when confronted by its angry alpha. Even Spyro took several steps away from the great dragon.

"Listen, for I will not repeat myself," Umaroth continued, his voice only marginally softer. "Spyro speaks the truth. There are other worlds besides this one. I know this for a fact because my Rider, Vrael, was also a Planeswalker. I told this to everyone else here during our second meeting, Commander - the first of many from which you were absent! Now, you will hold your tongue on this matter, or I will personally remove it! Am I clear?" The ice dragon seemed all the smaller compared to Umaroth when he nodded in fearful understanding.

Spyro was astounded by the rage that Umaroth displayed. He had never seen an elderly dragon that angry before in his entire life. Not even Ignitus's temper, when he intervened with Cyril and Volteer's argument in theDragonTemple, could compare to this.

No one spoke for a whole minute. No one moved during that minute, either. Only when Umaroth laid back down and relaxed himself did Cryos slowly get back to his paws and silently walk to his place on the other side of the table.

Sparx peeked out from behind Spyro's horn. "Well, that wasn't..._scary_ at all," he said sarcastically.

"Yeah, not at all," came Flame's shaky voice. They turned to see he had retreated a good ten feet back from Umaroth and laid down, covering his face with his front paws.

"What, did the big bad fire dragon get frightened?" Sparx teased, fluttering back to his usual spot above his brother's head.

"Tch! What're you talking about?" Flame chuckled half-heartedly. "I wasn't scared one..." Everyone's attention was drawn to a liquid pool spreading from below his belly - it was yellow. "...bit." He finished in a weak voice. Several of the officers couldn't help but laugh, much to the young fire dragon's dismay. He lowered his head and covered his face in embarrassment.

Graphos cleared his throat. "We're off subject, everyone," he said in a level voice. He seemed to be the only one unphased by Umaroth and Cryos's confrontation.

"Yes, I believe we are," Gerrard shook off his stupor. "Now, I believe I brought our guests here for a reason: to fill them in on the status of the war. And correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that, at the very least, Link" - he motioned to Link - "has some experience in war, right?" Link nodded.

"So do we," Spyro said, both he and Cynder moving next to Link. "We assisted in the defense of Warfang, the capital city of our world. And we've been in many major battles since." Few of the officers looked like they believed them, but none questioned them.

"And what of Flame and Ember?" Graphos asked.

"Yeah, from what I've seen of them," Lieutenant Joseph O'Donnell said, motioning with his mace to the pool of urine from which Flame had removed himself from and cleaned off his scales. "They don't look very battle-hardened."

"They're capable fighters," Cynder said. O'Donnell didn't look very convinced, but didn't say anything in protest.

"Good enough for me," Gerrard said. He turned his attention to the map on the table.

"What's the status of the army?" Link asked.

Gerrard pointed to an unlabeled town in the Merak region on the map. "We have nine hundred men here with us, enough to hold out against any attack we've had thus far without a casualty. Most of our men are holding out in a multiple outposts a few minutes ride away." He pointed to four places, each within five miles of their current location.

"How many?" Link asked.

"Just under a thousand each, three thousand in all."

"And what of Nightmare's forces?" Spyro asked.

"Not as large as we believed," General Wolfheart said. "But he is quickly gaining support. His numbers have increased from a few hundred to well over two thousand in only a week, and more are likely to join him as we speak."

"At the rate at which his army's growing, combined with the power of Soul Edge," Infurnus said. "He could overrun the whole of the Soul Void before the season is over."

"What kind of troops does he have?" Link asked.

"The only units that'll pose any real threat are some trained soldiers and corrupt knights," Gerrard answered. "Similar to the ones we fought in Altaire."

"Hmm..." Spyro huffed with a speculating nod as his eyes zipped from one part of the map to another. (He had to stand on his hind legs with his front paws on the end of the table just to see over it. Cynder stood likewise beside him.)

"There's something else I have to tell you, unfortunately," Commander Lombardi said. "There are several groups of outlaws, as well as prisoners who broke free because of the destruction Nightmare caused, that now view him as a symbol of power. They are the shame of Merak."

"And now it seems Nightmare's recruited them, nearly doubling the size of his army," Gerrard said. "And their sheer numbers are enough to hold us to this part of Merak." He traced a line with his finger down the middle of Merak on the map, roughly ten miles to the east of the town. "Any time we try to push through, they just hold out until a company of elites show up."

Spyro thought of something. "What can you tell us about one of Nightmare's specific servants, Raphael?"

"So far, we've only seen him at the head of Nightmare's elites. None of our men have survived an encounter with that Frenchman," O'Donnell said with contempt. "Even our best soldiers have fallen."

"For being Nightmare's right-hand-man, he always seems to be alone," Infurnus said skeptically.

_What could he be up to?_ Spyro wondered. Before anyone could say anything else, Will spoke.

"Now that you're here, we should be able to break through the enemy lines," he said hopefully.

Spyro was about to ask where they should report when Cynder said, "Um...actually, we didn't come here to assist in the fighting." At first, Spyro stared at her in utter disbelief. Then he remembered their mission, and was forced to agree with her.

The officers instantly stared at them in surprise. (If Umaroth was at all surprised, he didn't show it.) The looks on their faces made Spyro feel guilty about not being able to help them.

"Wha..." Will stammered after a few moments. "You...You're not here to help us? Why?"

"My thought exactly, young purple dragon," Graphos said in a level voice. "After all, we are fighting this war for you. This is effectively _your_ army, Spyro. What reasons do you have for not aiding them in their hour of need?"

Another pang of guilt shot through Spyro at these words. It was hard enough to leave when he was in the presence of allies, but now it was even harder when the odds were stacked against them. But it had to be done.

"Nightmare is looking to complete Soul Edge," the purple dragon said. "The longer we wait, the closer he gets to doing so. And staying here to help the army fight will only delay us longer. We need to get to the third gate, before Nightmare can destroy it too. He very well could be there already."

No one spoke as the generals considered his words. At first, Spyro expected them to outright disagree, but his worries proved unfounded when, after five tense minutes, Infurnus spoke.

"You're right, Spyro. If Nightmare isn't stopped, it will not matter if we defeat his army."

Gerrard shifted on his feet. "As...unfortunate this dilemma is," he admitted. "I see no other alternative."

Spyro nodded. "Thank you for understanding."

"Now, I believe the next question that should be answered is, where should you lot go so you can get to the Shrine without much hindrance?" O'Donnell said.

Before anyone could answer, there were shouts coming from outside in the village. Just as they turned their eyes to the door, a lightly armored soldier came running in, bearing a slash wound on his arm.

"What the hell is going on out there?" Gerrard demanded.

"We're under attack!" the man answered urgently. "Nightmare's forces! More than we can count!"

Gerrard swore before turning to Spyro. "Looks like you'll be staying here for a bit after all."

"Yeah, I guess so."

"Good!" Flame exclaimed, eyes flaming with eagerness - then contempt when he looked directly at Cryos. "Now you'll see that we aren't hatchlings!"

"Hmph. _I'll_ be the judge of that," the ice dragon said coldly.

"We don't have time for this!" O'Donnell shouted, unshouldering his shield and brandishing his mace. "Let's get out there and kick some evil asses!"

* * *

><p><strong>Ok! Now things get really serious! Hope I did a good job with the meeting here. It was a little shorter than I was hoping, but I guess that's life, huh?<strong>

**Anyway, I would like to thank you all again for staying with me thus far! I appreciate reviews, positive and negative. Everything helps.**

**Alright, next chapter will be mostly action; that I will make sure of! I'm not sure how long this one will take, so I apologize if I take too long.**

**See you then!**


	20. Chapter 19: Outlaws of Merak

Chapter 19: Outlaws of Merak

They ran out the massive doors of the temple into the thoroughfare. Soldiers were scrambling across the streets, shouting orders to organize a defense. Several younger dragons were running toward the middle of the village, away from the gate.

"Lieutenet!" Gerrard shouted to a passing soldier, who stopped and turned. "What are we up against, soldier?"

"We've got a large group of bandits converging on the village, sir!" the lieutenet said. "There's more than our lookout could count in the few seconds he had before getting fired on."

"How did they get that close before he spotted them?" Gerrard ordered.

"He said they just appeared out of nowhere. He looked away for less than a second and when he looked back they were there. Next second, he narrowly dodged an arrow." Gerrard swore at the answer.

The air rumbled with the sound of a growl in Umaroth's throat. "Ready all able-bodied men and dragons to the gate. We cannot afford to lost this battle, for if we do, the war is lost."

"We'll stay and help," said Spyro, Cynder, Flame, Ember, and Link all at the same time. They all looked at each other in slight confusion and amusement.

"Good," Graphos said. "We'll need all the help we can get."

They began the run to the outer wall. With the crowded paths full of running soldiers and dragons, they couldn't effectively make their way through on foot. Instead the dragon commanders, as well as Spyro, Cynder, Flame, and Ember, had to carry the officers who couldn't fly, over the crowd and to the damaged front gate. When they landed, they were instantly bombarded with frightened questions of what to do.

"Assemble the forces here!" Umaroth roared above the shouting crowd, silencing them instantly. "We make a stand and take them head-on!"

"But, sir! Their numbers are too great! We'd be overwhelmed!" a soldier shouted from the crowd.

"This is our final line!" Gerrard continued. "If we lose here, the war is lost! But that will NOT happen! Not while we have strength left! And ESPECIALLY not to a bunch of common criminals like THEM!" He recieved some murmurs of agreement from all the other soldiers. "Now, I say we go out there and show these bandits what we're made of! We are Merak Freedom Fighters! And we will not lose to the likes of these scum!

"We...will..._rise..._VICTORIOUS!" he finished, followed by a triumphant roar form all the dragons in earshot.

"Now, let's get out there and kick some bantit ASSES!" Leiutenet O'Donnell shouted, raising his mace.

And with that, every soldier in the village shouted in moral before they all charged out through the gate. Spyro and the others were at the front of the coalition of troops, outstripping them all. As usual, Flame was even faster than them all. The bandits gave war cries themselves and charged as well. Within a few more seconds, the two forces collided.

**(Until further notice, I will be telling the story from different characters' points of view. The exact character will be specified thusly: *Character* in the middle of a line on its own.)**

*Spyro*

Spyro comet-dashed through the wall of shields in the bandits' front lines, searing the bantis' leather armor on the way in. In an instant, he began slashing and biting at every enemy he could see, complete and utter focus as he settled into battle fever. Every swing rent the armor or flesh of a foe, sometimes both.

After a few moments, he was cut off from the rest of the group, singled out by a group of enemies and surrounded in a matter of moments. But he didn't let up. Spyro kept fighting, even when his attacks became slow and sluggish from exhaustion. Once or twice he missed entirely, recieving a taunting smirk from his enemy. And just as many times as he missed did he also recieve more-than-half-decent blows from the enemies he missed.

After what seemed like an eternity, Spyro finally was knocked off his feet by a boot to the side of his face. He landed on his side, dazed. When he shook his head to regain his senses, he barely had time to dodge another attack, jumping to his feet in time for a longsword to imbed itself in the ground where his neck had been a split second before. He finished the attacker with a bite to the neck and snapping it with a flick of his head.

*Cynder*

Cynder had lost sight of Spyro a few minutes into the battle when a wave of enemies split them apart, iscolating her from the others as well. They had began the battle doing everything they could not to get seperated, they were at their strongest when together. But there was little they could to when their opponents were numerous and were literally trying to single them each out. All she could do was hope for his safety.

There was little she could do to find her purple friend, especially when she was beset upon by a line of enemies shaking spears at her. Whenever she tried to attack, they lashed back, some giving her several cuts, occasionally even puncturing her wings. But, trained as she was in combat, she knew better than to let pain get the best of her in the middle of a battle, and ignored it best she could.

After what seemed like the hundredth failed attempt, Cynder finally decided it was time to use magic. She dove into her shadow before bursting up in the middle of her foes, scattering them every which way. Immediately after landing, she rose up and spun on the tip of her tail, her wind storm throwing every enemy within its radius either on their backs twenty meters away or into another enemy.

When she ceased the attack, any enemy that had witnessed her display of power was reluctant to approach her. She had to admit, it gave her a sense of pride in knowing that she inspired fear and awe in her enemies.

But she knew better than to let these thoughts go to her head. There were more important things to worry about right now; the first of which was to find Spyro and confirm his safety.

She charged at her foes. She unleashed a wave of Dark Fire, causing the enemies to choke and cough as the shadowy flames consumed the oxygen from around them and from their lungs. She continued the attack until the bandits fell down, clutching their throats, upon which time she thrust her tailblade into each of their chests, rupturing their hearts as the barbed blade was removed from it.

After a few minutes, she felt something in her mind. She dove into her shadow so she could assess it without interference from enemies. What she felt was a thought from Spyro: _Help!_ he shouted to her, his mental voice full of fear. Then he sent her an image: Spyro battling the largest humanoid enemy she'd ever seen, and barely keeping up with the giant's attacks.

She shot up from her shadow, scattering enemies and allies alike this way and that. She didn't care who she harmed right now. All she cared about was ensuring that Spyro survived this battle! She remembered how worried she had been when they were assisting in the defense of Warfang three years ago...

The moment she formed this thought -a mere minute after she began searching - she felt another thought from Spyro form in her mind. Her breath caught as she realized what it was.

Pain.

*Spyro*

Spyro had managed to recover from his latest mistake - the kick he recieved - and was now fighting vigorously to reunite with Cynder and his friends. Using his Earth powers to feel aproximately where they were - as they were the only dragons in this battle of their age - he began fighting his way toward than. More than once he was stopped by a group of enemies that were actually trained, but still easy to deal with.

He fought and fought, killing dozens of enemies on his own, fighting to locate Cynder before anything bad happened.

After a few minutes, a massive gust of wind blew past him from his left flank. He turned to find a wave of enemies soaring through the air, landing several meters in front of him. He changed direction, heading toward where Cynder's Windstorm had occured - for she was the only dragoness she knew who could use Wind.

He was stopped, however, by a new enemy: one clad from head to toe in armor. The armor was jet black with gold trimmings, as was the massive sword and round shield the fiend carried. The helmet obscured its face, so Spyro couldn't tell whether it was human or not - though he guessed it was - but one thing was for sure: it stood almost twice Link's height, dwarfing the purple dragon.

Whatever it was, it didn't hesitate in attacking when it saw Spyro skid to a halt before it. Spyro barely had time to dodge the massive sword as it slammed into the ground where Spyro had just been half a second earlier. The thud from the impact was audible to everyone within a hundred yards of the armored fiend.

Despite the weapon being so heavy and massive, and the fact that it imbedded itself a good foot-and-a-half into the ground, the enemy was able to just jerk upward and remove the sword as if it were removing it from water, and returned to its battle stance. The sheer size and strength of this enemy made Spyro nervous about engaging. But Spyro noticed that every human he saw for twinty feet in any direction of this enemy wasn't a bandit. _Maybe they're so intimidated by this guy that they won't come anywhere near him...can't say I blame them._

Since this was most likely their leader, Spyro decided to fight. Taking out the leadership would throw their numbers into chaos, or probably send them turning tail and running.

Aiming to test the strength of its defenses, Spyro attacked. His claws simply bounced off the shield without even leaving a scratch, much less a dent. However, as his claws glanced off, the enemy thrust the shield at him, slamming it into his head and sending him staggering back.

Dazed, the purple dragon could barely make out the enemy leaning back to swing its sword. He had only a fraction of a second after recovering to move. The sword once again dug into the ground, but it was almost instantly yanked out again.

He tried several more times, each attack he aimed for the foe's head or legs, whichever was more exposed, and each time he hit only the shield, was dazed by a shield attack, and narrowly dodged a counterattack. He wasn't making any progress in defeating this creature.

"Ok, so frontal attacks won't do anything," he murmured - exactly when he began talking to himself he didn't know, nor did he care.

Having learned from his mistakes, Spyro maintained a reasonable distance - just outside of his enemy's reach, and just inside the ring of bandits that had stopped their fighting to watch their leader duel - and began circling, examining his foe, searching for a weakness of some kind.

_Hmm...that armor doesn't seem to hinder it in terms of attacks, _he thought. _But it does slow it down when it comes to _turning_...Maybe I can confuse it by zipping around and attacking from behind!_

Testing his plan, he activated his Dragon Time ability, slowing the battle enough for him to run around the armored enemy and made to strike the back of its neck, which was protected by nothing more than a thin layer of barely visible leather. As his fangs neared their target, he released his hold on time just before he made contact...

But what he hit wasn't leather...in fact, it wasn't _anything!_ His muzzle stopped a good two inches above the exposed leather. _What the...!_

His confusion gave the enemy the time to swing the massive sword backwards, aiming to cleave Spyro along his waist. He barely had the time to notice the attack, and made to dodge.

He was too slow, though. He escaped being sliced in half, but he wasn't fast enough to evade the attack entirely. He moved just enough so that he was struck with the flat of the blade. The blow was still powerful enough to throw him directly into the crowd of bandits. He expected to be beaten and killed right then, but instead they simply threw him back into the ring. Apparently they _wanted _him to fight their leader.

_They obviously don't have any concern for their commander if they're forcing me to fight him,_ Spyro thought. _Bit I can't even damage him...Whatever's protecting this guy, I need to find a way to shut it down, and fast!_

He lost his train of thought as the enemy performed a stabbing attack, forcing Spyro to dodge again. The enemy then spun around and swung the blade straight down, which Spyro again dodged. This time, the sword remained stuck in the ground (it was imbedded three feet deep, from what Spyro could feel from his Earth powers), giving Spyro the chance to attack again.

This time, he aimed for the armor itself, slashing hard at the chest plate with his claws, which he imbued with as much of his Electricity element as he could muster. The metal rang loudly as his claws raked across it, before screeching with the following electric wave. The horrible sound forced Spyro to jump off and cover his ears, as well as everyone else within earshot, drowning out the roars of pain from the creature within, and the armor glowed with electricity, forcing Spyro to cover his eyes. After several seconds, the screeching and roaring silenced, replaced by clanging of armor against earth, and the light died down.

Spyro looked past his wings to find the enemy on its knees, literally. Its heavy plated armor had fallen off, bits and peices of the suit strewn across the ground. What was undernieth was definitely alive. Steam hissing from its arms and head, it slowly stood up to its full height.

The enemy was garbed in black chain mail under a blood-red tunic, with black metal bracers and greaves. Its face was still covered with a metal mask colored to make it look like a skull. Its shield lay on the ground, but the massive sword was still in its hand, and it looked ready to use it. And it did...

Just not in the manner Spyro expected: it _threw _the sword at Spyro! He barely had time to roll to the side and dodge. He looked to find the massive blade landed in the wall of bandits keeping the two combatants in, cleaving three in half and knocking several more over.

_What kind of leader does that to his own men! _the purple dragon thought as he turned his gaze back to the giant. _And what kind of warrior throws away his weapon in the middle of a battle?_

His question was answered not a second later. The enemy reached across his body and drew another sword from his opposite hip with such force the scabbard was torn off and sliced in two. The new sword was nowhere near as large and intimidating as the old one, but it was longer and, most likely, easier to handle.

_With no bulky armor,_ Spyro thought, _this guy's going to be moving faster. This isn't going to be easy..._

He was right. During the next battle, Spyro could hardly keep up with the monstrous man's newly found speed. It was definitely more skilled with this sword than the great sword, as it kept blocking and parrying every single attack Spyro threw at him. And whatever had stopped his strike at its neck earlier was protecting it from any of Spyro's elemental attacks as well. He couldn't land a single blow!

He had lost almost all his confidence in this battle. If he couldn't beat this thing, then it would destroy every soldier they had. And the problem was he _couldn't_ beat it alone...

_Alone..._ Spyro about face-palmed himself as he realized it. He cast his mind out and zeroed in on Cynder. He was still dodging another series of attacks, so he couldn't focus long enough to establish a connection for more than a few seconds. So he resorted to sending a single word, _Help!_ and showing her the battle, before closing his mind.

His lapse in concentration on the battle slowed him down a notch too much, and he was hit right on the face by an oncoming attack. Although the weapon was small, the arm behind it was still unworldly strong, and it sent him to the ground in an instant. a second after he landed, the giant jumped into the air and came down, sword tip pointed down, aiming for Spyro's throat...

It never met its mark. A massive black shield frisbied through the air and struck the flat of the blade, sending it just off-target. Spyro saw his life flash before his eyes as the blade plundged into the ground an inch from his neck (he's laying on his side).

On instinct, he shot up and rolled away from his enemy before looking around for his eyes rested on the bald, lilac-eyed form of Gerrard, standing in the ending pose of one who had just thrown something heavy.

The enemy withdrew its sword from the ground and turned to them. A frustrated, human-like growl was audible from under the skull mask. With unspoken consent, Spyro and Gerrard, who wielded a longsword and shield, agreed to fight together against this massive foe.

They both charged simultaneously, Spyro slightly to the right, Gerrard to the left, both ready to attack. Both of their moves never even hit. The enemy jumped to its left, out of the way of Spyro's Comet Dash, and blocked Gerrard's attack with the sword. An instant later, Gerrard recieved a steel boot to his face, knocking him back several yards and landing on his back.

"Gerrard!" the purple dragon shouted, fearing that he might be dead. His second lapse in focus gave the enemy its opportunity and it lunged at him. Before he could respond, it elbowed him in his jaw, dazing him, before spinning around and swinging the sword downward with even more speed than before.

Spyro was about to call to Cynder for help via his mind just as the sword cut into his upper back. The only thought he was able to send to Cynder was an emotion: pain.

The sword imbedded itself in his back, and he stood there, frozen in horror and pain. The entire crowd froze, even the giant. After a few seconds, it yanked up. The sword removed itself unceremoniously from Spyro's back.

_"Cynder..._" was his last thought before all was black...

*Link*

The enemies Link faced were extremely untrained, and he didn't even have to try to defeat most of them. Every swing of his Master Sword (he had chosen not to use Soul Calibur in this battle) signaled the death of a Merak outlaw. The only time he had any trouble was when he faced an enemy wielding a spear and bearing a shield. A simple Back Slice took care of that enemy.

He got seperated from Gerrard and Will in a wave of enemies who seemed to be aiming to single them out. Before he could even think about fighting to get back to them, his path was blocked by a group of shielded enemies. With this many, a Back Slice would be useless. So he tried something different.

Link charged at them, shouting. Just before he collided with them, he thrust his Hylian shield into the middle bandit's, which in turn was slammed into the man's face, dazing him. Immediately the Hylian pushed off of the ground with all the strength he could muster in his legs, just as he had been taught. As he passed over the man's head, he spun vertically, slashing the back of his foe's head with his Helm Splitter. _Aptly named,_ he thought as he recalled when he had been taught this move.

As he landed, he performed an uncharged Spin Attack, slashing every enemy in the shield wall in the back before they could turn around. They all fell limply as the sword severed their spines.

As Link continued his course to rejoin with Gerrard, he cut his way through even more enemies, staining both the ground and the Master Sword's blade crimson with blood. Every now and then a dragon roared, followed by an elemental attack that heralded death to another batch of foes.

When he finally caught up to Gerrard, he froze, wide-eyed, at what he saw...

* * *

><p><strong>And I'll call "Cut!" there. For those of you who have played Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, I certainly hope you recognize the enemy I had Spyro fight. If the armor wasn't enough of a hint, then the sword-throwing should be. Now, how did one of those things get from Hyrule to the Soul Void? I ain't telling until next chapter, so be patient, my fellow Planeswalkers.<strong>

**Anywho, thank you all for sticking with me thus far! I appreciate reviews, positive and negative. Everything helps! I just hope I don't take too long to finish this battle sequence. **

**See ya when I finish this boss battle! **

**(PS: I said that until further notice I'd be writing in different character's points of view, right? Well, further notice has NOT arrived yet. The next chapter will begin with Link's point of view.)**


	21. Story Discontinued

Hello, my readers. I'm sure you were expecting an update of this story, but I'm afraid I must disappoint you...

Due to a combination of writer's block, lack of available time, and an unfortunate loss of interest, I am officially declaring this story discontinued.

I appologize to anyone who I have disappointed...

Solaro out.


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